


Avengers: One Shots

by Xathia



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 23:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18486916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xathia/pseuds/Xathia
Summary: Collection of one-shots from the Marvel universe.





	1. Chapter 1

_Chef required. Room offered in partial exchange. Discretion is necessary._

Piper was scrolling through the job listings yet again after spending the day being screamed at by unhappy customers. Apparently, it never occurred to most people to check their heating worked until it was needed after being turned off for eight months. Her rent was coming up for renewal, and there was a sinking feeling in her gut that it was due to be out of her financial means. 

“Worst they can say is no,” she humoured to no one in particular. 

Three missed calls from the same number the following day raised the female's eyebrows. She googled the number, but nothing was coming up and decided to give it a callback. 

“Stark Industries, how can I help you?” A professional but sharp tone on the other line had Piper convinced it was a mistake. 

“I’m sorry, you’ve tried calling me three times today, I think you have the wrong number-” she tried to explain. 

“Is that Miss Douvers?” The sharp voice enquired. 

“Yes,” Piper replied after a short pause, confusion rife in her mind. 

“One moment please,” the hold music was anything to be expected from a company that was owned by Tony Stark, brash and loud before she was put through. 

“This is Ms Potts, I understand I am speaking with Miss Douvers?” Pepper sounded nothing like how the other woman had ever imagined. 

“Yes,” she stammered. “I am really sorry, I think there’s been a mistake, I’ve had three missed calls from you.”

“I received your application for the chef role, I was hoping you would be able to come in to Stark Headquarters for an interview at your own convenience,” Piper could picture the smile on her face at the posed question, discretion required meant that Tony Stark would be involved most likely. 

“I can attend in the morning about 8am?” The female finally responded, still trying to process the entire scenario. 

“Great, I’ll be waiting, you need to let reception know you are here to see me and I will send my secretary down to meet you,” Pepper beamed before the call was terminated. 

She could only make the best of what she had in her wardrobe. Piper had never dreamed that such a low key advert would be for someone so prolific, nor be so open about recruiting in such a manner. She had phoned in sick, citing lousy food from the previous night, though her managers didn’t care when you didn’t turn up anyway, but she might need to butter them up for references and didn’t want to ruin her chances. The receptionist didn’t believe her at all when she said she was expected by Pepper Potts and went as far as calling security when the CEO turned up on the ground floor with open arms to the woman. 

“I’m taking you to the interview venue, we need to do a staged interview and test stage to ascertain your ability and suitability for the job,” the blonde beamed, dragging the stunned female in her wake. 

Travelling upstate was definitely not in the plans that Piper had. Pepper was silent on the journey, working intensely on a laptop that was balanced on her knees while they cruised through smoothly. Everything felt like a dream, especially when they stopped at the Avengers new headquarters. 

“Discretion is required,” Piper quoted after stepping out of the car and raising an eyebrow at Pepper. 

“Tony wanted to put ‘must be able to keep mouth shut’, but it wouldn’t have the same professional tone really,” the blonde smiled, before leading the way into the massive facility. A glass elevator was her way of showing her around in a brief sense. There were many sections to the layout, offices, labs, gyms and the residential area. The lift suddenly stopped between levels, startling the woman who was being interviewed, though nothing surprised her more when Pepper turned to her expectantly. “This position is of the utmost secret. This is a highly coveted position to get close to the Avengers. In this role, you will be their personal chef. You are expected to meal plan, shop and clean the kitchen, as well as deal with any parties and the likes that Tony will throw at short notice. We have already completed your background checks, and Steve and Wanda have already been drooling over your blog, and apparently, there are a few things they want you to try cooking for them now.” 

“So my interview is basically ‘here are some things we want, make them’?” Piper queried, unable to cease playing with the hem of her shirt. 

“They’ve put together a list for a late lunch as far as I know. You’re the only candidate to have passed the background checks, so they’re a little excited,” Pepper chuckled as the elevator finally resumed and shot up to the top floor. 

A loud commotion was coming from the far end of the well lit up floor. Windows were everywhere as excited voices grew louder the closer the pair got to where Piper imagined the kitchen was. 

She was nervous as hell. Especially when she saw all of the Avengers were present. They paused after Pepper had coughed loudly to get their attention, and hurriedly shut the laptop screen as a blush flushed across a few faces. 

“May I introduce Piper?” The CEO smiled, unfazed as always by the remarkable individuals before the pair as the other woman waved awkwardly. “I hope you’ve managed to all stop bickering and decide on the test menu.”

Piper was balancing the phone on her shoulder as she kept stirring the sauce, determined to ensure it wouldn’t stick to the bottom as she added the tiniest bit of cornflour to thicken it in the slightest. Too thick of a sauce or too runny could ruin a dish in her opinion as the hold music continued to try and lull her to sleep. The pasta sheets were drying over the kitchen island before Tony entered the kitchen to whinge that it wasn’t time to eat. 

They were expected a returning guest that night, and apparently, this was a dish that he would welcome as Pepper finally came back to the phone. 

“The plane lands in three hours, Steve’s already going to meet him, so as long as you make sure the room is clean and presentable and the food is good then everything should be fine,” she crooned over the line to the chef who had also taken on a lot of the housekeeping jobs in the residential floor. Though the individual rooms which were occupied she refused to step into, Thor’s was an especially to that scenario. He had things growing in there, and Piper wasn’t even sure that they were from this planet. 

Tony ‘rescued’ the phone from Piper, wagging a finger at her as he turned to complain that Bucky wouldn’t be back quick enough to deal with all the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. The chef chuckled to herself as she brought the white sauce off the heat. Layering up the large dish she’d ordered in for the occasion and demand, she carefully laid out the lasagna, before cursing that she hadn’t even started to make the bread dough. 

Wanda came in at the sounds of flour puffing into the air and laughed at the woman who was now in a dusting of the white powder after the dough ball had been launched into the marble countertop. The Scarlet Witch giggled as she helped the chef to resume the ability to see, and promised to tell no one in exchange for an extra large slice of lasagna and chunk of garlic bread. Piper humoured herself as she began to think back on the past few months. Her life had been turned upside down massively, but she had never been happier. The Avengers were nothing like how they had been portrayed in the media. Steve was overly energetic, and a genuinely kind person, everything and everyone mattered to him, and he also had a massive sweet tooth when it came to baking cookies. Natasha was thorough in every aspect of her life and liked to sneak fruit pavlova when she thought no one was watching. Tony was just loud, and his latest mission was to get the chef drunk after finding out she had never been drunk at any of his parties the previous week. Wanda loved anything that reminded her of Sokovia, which had been the best challenge to the chef so far. It had also brought them a lot closer together as friends when they spent hours slaving in the kitchen to find the correct way to do things, and Vision usually tried to ‘help’ but would just end up distracting Wanda in a different way. Bruce viewed food as a thing to keep him going, so he was Piper’s biggest challenge to get a balanced diet down. He took most of his food when he was at the headquarters down in the lab, so various containers had come to be used, and also it was expected that a few failed attempts would occur before Banner got the intended meals. Clint would usually be at the farm, but when training got intensive, or things were on high alert, or Laura had banished him for a few days, then he would happily just sit himself in the kitchen and taste everything that was going. Sam liked everything meat and fish based. Getting him to eat proper fruit and vegetables was a trial on its own, she had taken to disguise through blending mostly. Bucky had the female intrigued. They’d been talking about how excited they were for him to come back after the cryo sleep in Wakanda had proved a success, but there was not a lot that the chef knew about his tastes. 

“And this is Piper,” Steve’s voice brought the chef out of her little world, stunned while holding the freshly baked garlic bread. “Tony got excited and hired us a chef, and she’s kind of grown to be one of us,” he grinned almost apologetically as the chef suddenly felt very exposed in front of the new arrival when she needed to bend over to close the oven. Bucky had been a renown womaniser in his youth, and despite that he was nearing a hundred, apparently removing the Winter Soldier programming had renewed that in him. 

“Hey doll,” the dark-haired male grinned wickedly, broadening his smirk as Piper blushed as bright as a tomato. 

“Dinner will be done shortly if you want to get everyone into the kitchen Steve,” Piper managed to stumble and get the words out, bending back over to study the lasagna dish in the oven. 

It was like watching kids fighting for their favourite meal as the extended table in the kitchen was the newest battleground. The female smiled as she loudly reminded them all that unless she could get the food to the table, then no one would be having any. Wanda dove straight in with Pietro’s assistance, taking large pieces for them both before Tony could shoehorn his way in, followed quickly by Steve and Natasha as Sam squeezed in to grab some of the fresh garlic bread. Piper couldn’t help but laugh before salvaging a serving for Bucky and herself, smiling softly at the newest arrival before sitting next to him. 

“So, you’re the chef?” Bucky asked an eyebrow quirked up in a flirtatious manner. 

“She’s also our man at the computer,” Peter always knew when Piper was cooking somehow and would be over most evenings with the disguise of needing to see ‘Mr Stark’, and also gotten a serving as large as his head. “Don’t judge me, I’m still growing.” 

“You’ll be needing a second suit if you don’t watch it,” she tutted, shaking her head as Banner and Tony took a sudden interest in who Piper had decided to sit next to. 

“So Piper, seeing as we’ve kind of turned your life upside down and inside out,” Tony opened, acting casual between mouthfuls of lasagna. “How come I’ve never heard of any kind of family or boyfriend?”

“Pepper did a background check, it was one of the requirements to be unattached. Ergo, an orphan with no current romance was the only way I ended up here?” the chef responded, giving Stark a look which was blatant in her belief that it was the stupidest question he could have asked. “That and Wanda and Cap were already fans of my blog and YouTube channel,” she shrugged, dipping some of the bread into the sauce. “So, to be honest, I don’t think I stood much chance of walking away without the job really,” she chuckled, savouring the flavours from the meal as she tried to block out that she was the focus of the conversation. 

The rest of the meal passed as usual, with Piper deflecting the personal questions as always, a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes before she started to clear away the dishes at the end. 

“Not this time,” Thor was carrying the chef easily while the rest of the Avengers took to clearing the table, wide grins on their faces at the panic on the female’s face. “Lady Piper will let us do the work!”

“It’s my job…” she whimpered, trying to scramble out of the God’s arms. “You’re messing my kitchen up…” she pleaded, pulling the ace out from her sleeve as she turned her puppy eyes onto the unsuspecting Asgardian. 

“No you don’t,” Stark bust through, and tackled the chef to the ground, pinning her against the floor to ‘save’ the God from the undeniable cuteness. Bucky couldn’t keep in the laughter anymore and was bent over double at the sight. It was a sound that was music to Steve’s ears and startled most of the Avengers into staring as the former Winter Soldier couldn’t do much beyond hold his stomach until the feeling had passed. 

By the time the chef had managed to get free of Iron Man and his grabby hands, the whole team had cleaned the kitchen of everything and left the woman with a slightly twitchy eyebrow that she wasn’t allowed to check everything had been put back in the correct place. Piper was currently sandwiched between Thor and Tony, unable to slip out as Tony ended up pulling her into his lap with a coy smirk while a particularly steamy scene came up in the movie they were watching. Bucky was struggling to keep his eyes off them, especially when he noticed the blush rising up the chef’s cheeks as Tony kept kissing and biting at her neck. He only looked back at the screen when the woman glanced his way, desperate to rid herself of the feeling that all the Avengers were watching her. 

Piper could feel her cheeks become permanently stained red once Tony let her go, bolting straight for her room and slamming the door behind her. Thankfully there was no need to go and bother any of the men to assist with the problem that Stark had caused. She was soaking through her underwear as she struggled out of her jeans in a frenzy to relieve herself, and didn’t hear the soft knock at the door before it was slowly opened. 

“Bucky!” She yelled, spotting him and trying to pull her hoodie down to cover the obvious. 

“Sorry doll thought you’d want a hand with how quickly you left Tony,” he chuckled, shutting the door again.

“Breathe a word to anyone and your food will suddenly be inedible,” she growled, tugging sharply on the door and pulling the dark-haired male into a passionate kiss. 

Her force caught him off guard. But he wasn’t to be outdone. 

The door slammed behind him, picking the chef up in one fluid movement, wrapping her legs around his waist and battling with her tongue for dominance. He was surprisingly gentle at lowering her onto the bed, his fingers delving under the sheer and wet fabric and gently teasing her lips and entrance, enticing a delightful groan from the woman. He chuckled softly, and slowly slid a finger into her hot tunnel. She had been teased by Stark for more than half of the movie it seemed as Barnes curved a finger, twisting his movements to study the reactions of the female. He bit at her neck, each one a slightly different amount of pressure in a change of area as he experienced the full range of her sounds. An instrument for him to play, but only music for his ears as Bucky was relieved of his clothes. 

“Impatient aren’t we doll?” He chuckled, nipping at her lobe as he unclasped her bra. He paused to massage her breasts gently, they fit his hands almost perfectly as he felt her nipples harden under his attention. A smirk on his face while he pinned her to the bed. 

A flush was permanent on Piper’s face, Barnes was almost certain of it. She was so riled and wound up, it was possible this would be his only chance to see the woman in such a way. It was a memory he would treasure for sure as he captured her lips with his, nipping softly for entrance to her delightful mouth as he nudged his member towards her wetness. She was a velvet hold on him as their hips finally met. 

“Fuck,” she gasped, her back arched off the bed, as Bucky wished he’d thought to restrain her to the headboard before they’d started. She was too receptive to leave open to do as she wished as her nails dug into the back of his hands. 

“Dirty girl, shall I wash your mouth out after?” Barnes muttered, slowly thrusting his hips as he watched her eyes roll into the back of her head. 

He kept his pace steady, she felt divine. It was tough to recall what it had felt like last time, the previous seventy years were like he had been on ice before he bit her a little hard. 

Piper used the surprise to change momentum and rolled them over. She was a raving minx that much the former Winter Soldier knew as she expertly manipulated her hips and inner muscles to his delights. She wasn’t tall enough to keep him pinned down as a skilled finger began to tease at her swollen clit. Her moans drove the man on, lazily bouncing his hips as the haze was getting impossible to fight. Bucky had already lost count of her orgasms, but this one he wasn’t letting her pass. 

“Bucky!” Piper screamed his name.

“Doll, I’m gonna-” Bucky couldn’t hold anything off. The way her walls spasmed around him had sent him over the edge, filling her up and sending the chef into an even intenser climax. 

A few minutes of basking in the afterglow, Piper grunted and peeled herself off Barnes with a sheepish look before dashing into the en-suite. The super soldier was chuckling to himself as she’d come over all shy and decided to pass her the pyjamas that had been left on the side. He lazily got dressed again, enjoying the emotions of ‘normality’ coming over him as the female slipped out of her bathroom, refusing to look Bucky in the face. 

“Doll, I get it,” Barnes sighed, patting her head. “You were wound up, and just met me-”

“More like I don’t know anyone who gets this far the first night of meeting their Avenger crush,” she groaned into her hands. 

Someone knocked on the door, making the air suddenly vastly strained as Piper slowly went to answer it. 

Stark was looking far too smug for his own good until Bucky opened the door further and glared at the billionaire. Tony’s face fell and looked between the two with shock. 

“Capiscle said she fancied a brunette!” Tony exclaimed as the aforementioned blonde appeared from around the corner, too slow to stop the disaster. 

“Steve! I am banning you from the cookie jar for telling Stark!” The chef was bright red in embarrassment. 

“I didn’t tell him who, and I knew he’d take to you straight away,” Captain America was struggling not to give his longtime friend an approving grin. “So I thought Tony would help because he thinks the world revolves around him,” Rogers was trying not to laugh too hard. “Plus Natasha had the idea.”

“I think everyone was in on it doll,” Barnes sighed, rubbing his forehead as Iron Man left to sulk. 

“Then I think they can wait a few days while I get some problems out of my system,” Piper muttered, slamming her bedroom door before grabbing Bucky by the neck for another kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

It was hard to remember her parents, even when she tried to focus. She was dumped on her aunt’s doorstep as a young child, barely ready to start kindergarten. Thankfully, her aunt was nothing like her sister and husband. Pepper had a sensible head on her shoulder and had frequently taken in her niece when her sister would decide that going out to bars all night was much more important than looking after her only child. Sasha had been fragile, especially on an emotional level after suffering so much betrayal at the hands of the people who were meant to love her unconditionally. When Tony had the bright idea of keeping Sasha away from the limelight by relocating her at the age of ten to the United Kingdom, hiring a team of staff to look after her and sending Pepper over to run the London branch of Stark Company. Though he would never hesitate to fly Sasha back over to New York for the school holidays if it was even just hinted at. 

She had a bright future, amidst all the therapy and trust lessons that Pepper and Tony suffered through. Especially when Pepper had to return to New York for the first time on business. Sasha had been inconsolable until her aunt had returned a few days later. It was important that they never left her, and if anyone had to stay away for longer than originally stated, they had to be explicit and always communicate with the young girl. JARVIS was developed for the purpose of video chat, and then to always give Sasha company in the case of her family’s absence. It became easier to accept the transition of Pepper needing to take over the company in New York, especially when most of Sasha’s evenings were then spent on video calls to her aunt and uncle. It made things a lot easier to manage the successful company without making any sacrifices, especially as having Pepper’s niece at the tower over the summer holidays came to hand when she was being trained for the accounts/secretary position that would frequently get neglected in the face of Tony and Pepper being too busy. 

Tony was surprised when Sasha said she wanted to stay in London. Her accent was naturally British and turned all sorts of heads the second she stepped off the plane in the United States. Though when the Chitauri and Loki smashed New York to pieces, Tony was suddenly very grateful that their niece was nowhere near the destruction. She was very aware of the Avengers, and how unsubtle her uncle was. Even when Pepper walked away and went back to London for some space, Sasha would keep her communication open with Tony and let him know how things were. She never placed an ounce of pressure on her aunt, Tony had been as much of a staple of her life as the billionaire, and Pepper understood it, though it would cause her heart to ache in their separation to see her niece naturally perk up while talking to her ‘uncle’. 

“Hey kiddo,” Tony warmly hugged Sasha as the young woman stepped off his jet, gladly basking in his love before he dove in to hungrily greet Pepper, much to the brunette female’s loud distaste. He forgot that the rest of the Avengers had been eager to meet the girl who was such a treasure to their playboy that he was eager to keep away from the destruction. “Oh yeah, Sasha, you’ve heard of the Avengers right?”

“You never mentioned they’d be coming to pick us up,” her accent was turning posh out of nervousness, endearing the young woman before the red-headed Natasha stepped forward and put Sasha out of her misery with a friendly handshake and a warm smile.

“I’m Natasha, that’s Steve,” she pointed to the blonde and slightly embarrassed powerhouse of Captain America, “That’s his Bucky,” she teased, pointing to the slightly smaller male with a metal arm. “That’s Sam,”’ she gestured to the other side of the blonde, “Rhodey and Bruce you’ve met in the labs apparently,” she scorned, mock glaring at the scientist and military man, “That’s Wanda,” the Scarlet Witch gave a small wave back, unsure what to make of Tony’s niece. “That’s Vision, who apparently knows everything about you since he was JARVIS,” she added, “Clint is the one who looks out of place,” the male scowled at the teasing words of the redhead. “And Scott is the only one missing, he’s spending time with his daughter on the other side of the country at the moment.”

“Hi,” Sasha had never felt so intimidated as she was in the presence of some of the greatest people on Earth, quite literally, giving a shy little wave and a grimace trying to play off as a smile.

“Right, we’re on a weird time for the mock-Brit, so let’s get back home and get Sasha settled,” Pepper swooped straight in, noticing the early stages of a potential panic attack in the wave of new people. She tucked her niece against her and steered her to the smaller car which was commandeered for the girls only, leaving a disgruntled Tony with all the muscles. 

The woman was asleep against Natasha after a few minutes, leaving Pepper feeling a lot more comfortable about the whole situation that they had thrust her into. The Russian was surprised, but kept herself still, and chatted quietly with the Sokovian. 

“Why did Tony and you keep so quiet about having a niece that is effectively dependent on you both?” Wanda broached the inevitable halfway through the drive home, having carefully chosen her words as Natasha’s interest was barely disguised. 

“Because my sister dumped her on my doorstep when she was six. Sasha has been through so much before she was left with me for the last time. My sister didn’t even bother enrolling her in school, Tony was able to twist a private school local to us in New York, but everyone knew who we were, and it was making things difficult to keep the press out of the fact that we’d suddenly acquired a child. Plus Sasha was struggling with being abandoned, so Tony made enquiries, and found some excellent therapists that he hired in London. I moved over there for a while with her, and Tony would fly in and out a lot. In London, no one knew who she was. We had the therapy installed as part of her private schooling,” Pepper finally came out with. “Tony was there every step of the way. We were so invested in Sasha when she was young that spending time apart was the normality. JARVIS was part of the development, she could call us on video chat at any time of the day or night. Regardless of where we were or what we were doing, one of us would always answer, even if it was just to tell her we would call back shortly. Rhodes would be there for half of the calls, and any time Bruce was with Tony, he’d see the calls as well. Tony won’t tell me why he’s moved her to New York, I think someone’s found something out, and he’s trying to protect her,” Pepper admitted with a sigh, looking forlorn at the prospect of Sasha going through anything else. 

“She’s a fighter and a survivor,” Wanda murmured, admiring the slumbering female.

“She’s been through a lot,” Natasha agreed. 

“I just need her to adjust to other people in the same house now,” Pepper weakly smiled. 

Sasha’s room was a blank canvas in the neutral tones as her suitcases were placed down. Steve and Tony had been competing to see who could unload the girls’ stuff quickest, though the only winners were Pepper and Sasha who barely had to lift a finger the entire time. Steve dropped the last box onto the desk, giving a weary grin after realising there was a lot more stuff than he realised. She inclined her head in thanks and turned to start unpacking her clothes as he left the room. Natasha and Wanda were on either side of the young woman, and they had Vision and Sam opposite on their floor, FRIDAY was eager in introducing herself to the newest member of the household, as Tony’s personality was definitely shining through as it had with JARVIS. She glanced about all the boxes, a heavy weight still on her shoulders as Tony knocked on her door. 

“I didn’t tell you why you were moving for a reason,” he sighed, bringing her in for a tight hug. “I’ve had people digging into my history, and they found out about you. And it’s only so long until the media started camping out and hunting you down, and I thought if you were here with us all, then you’d be better protected.” 

“Thanks, Tony,” Sasha’s voice was small. “Does the move come with the choice of colours for my room?” 

“Comes with a complete overhaul of furniture if you want, no limit,” he beamed, kissing the top of her head. “If you need any space of sorts, there’s a library near the lab, more books than you can dream of.”

“I dunno, I have grown up in your care,” Sasha was smiling finally, looking up at her uncle. 

“Yeah that’s true,” he chuckled, finally releasing her from the embrace. “Still no boyfriend?” He enquired, looking a little hopeful. 

“I have more issues than a little and the world’s most protective uncle,” she pointed out with a laugh. “I don’t think anyone has dared to ask me out.” 

“Glad to hear it, I expect nothing but perfection for you,” Tony disappeared from her room, leaving a credit card on the side table for her as the young woman toyed with a few ideas for decorating her room. 

Sasha was working from the new complex, keeping up with Tony and Pepper’s diaries and tracking their expenses and arrangements for the accounts departments to file appropriately. She was lounging back in pyjamas on the sofa and tapping away furiously on one of the instant chat programmes that was used in house with an accounts assistant. Steve was taken back by the frown on the young woman’s face, especially when she started to growl at the laptop. 

“Something not working?” He hesitantly asked, slightly apprehensive about the female after her eagerness to remain lowkey and out of the way of most of the Avengers. 

“Someone doesn't understand how Tony works more like,” she replied, running her fingers through her hair and glaring at the screen. “I know exactly what can be claimed on expenses for the business and what can’t, I’ve been covering the job since I was fourteen. And I’ve got a newbie trying to tell me otherwise, though his manager won’t be that pleased when he gets an email from me with the chat log,” she grumpily added, making sure that everything had been included before hitting send. 

“I’m surprised he kept you so quiet,” the blonde said, trying to figure the woman out. 

“I had to spend years in therapy, and I still haven’t gotten over my abandonment issues, Tony was desperate to keep me out of the spotlight. Seeing as the press have only just discovered me, then they’re clearly slacking,” she chuckled as the laptop was closed, ignoring the notifications pinging from the speakers. 

“I think it’s more trying to find something to talk about with the Avengers,” he considered as Pepper and Tony came looking for their niece. 

“You’ve gotten more comfortable,” Pepper beamed, sitting next to Sasha and giving her a hug. Steve had noticed that both the couple would frequently hug and cuddle the girl, and she was always easy to reciprocate, and it was something that Wanda and Natasha were starting to do with her as well. “You wouldn’t have said a word about therapy until very recently.”

“Apparently trying to trust people is a good thing,” Sasha dryly humoured, unwilling to let go of her aunt just yet, and rested her head on Pepper’s shoulder for comfort. “You and the last therapist were always trying to push me.”

“I’m not criticising at all,” the blonde female soothed, squeezing her niece gently. “I’m impressed and so proud of you.”

“Yeah, I might have annoyed accounts again. They’ve got a new assistant who doesn’t realise I’ve got an accounting degree and years of experience as your two paper pusher,” Sasha was pouting at Tony, who groaned and rolled his eyes at the news. 

“It’s fine. I’ll talk to the Financial Controller, get things back in line,” Pepper laughed at Tony’s exasperation. 

“I’m sure he thinks I do this for fun,” the younger woman smiled. It was refreshing for her aunt and uncle to see her looking so comfortable in a place that she had been uprooted to on very short notice. She was sleeping fine and had already tried to make a hole in Tony’s credit card by plastering her walls in teal and chocolate, getting a painter in to decorate her feature wall by hand in flowers. A sign that Sasha was definitely okay for sure. 

“Well, you’re a Stark, so it’s to be expected,” Tony boasted. 

“Kind of,” Sasha grinned. “Easier to hide with a surname of Potts.” 

Tony was eager to host one of his parties after a successful mission. The whole team had come back battered, bruised and bloodied, but otherwise whole. It had shocked Sasha into a panic attack seeing the team when they landed, especially when they’d had to carry Clint off on a stretcher. He was struggling to process the divorce, and it was making him a little reckless in times of battle as Natasha was scolding him while the man was grimacing up at the redhead. 

Sasha was nervously perched on a bar stool, she had been dragged down from her room by Tony after being forced into a dress. It was a fitted bodice, strapless with a squared off top, and a cute A-line skirt that finished most of the way down her thighs, in a dark metallic blue that matched the colour of her eyes almost perfectly. She sipped at the brandy that her uncle spent far too much on while watching Thor animatedly describe the battle for those who hadn’t been there. The thought of being in the middle of a fight terrified the woman, and the realisation was starting to creep in that losing Tony was a big possibility in this position he had. Iron Man acted invincible. He had all the tech in his suit, and Friday had kept Sasha updated as to when things had finished and their projected time of arrival. She played with her bracelet that had been her 21st birthday gift several years previously from Tony, platinum metal with sapphires and diamonds in the links as she couldn’t quite bring herself to pretend everything was fine and smile. 

Steve took a seat next to the woman, slightly drunk from the Asgardian mead that Thor had gladly given, making Sasha giggle as he swayed slightly. “I think you and Bucky need to lay off the mead Captain,” she smiled, taking a sip from her glass. 

“Doesn’t affect me! I’m Captain America,” he boasted, then nearly knocked the brandy clean out of the woman’s hand. 

“I think it does,” she chided a little, trying to make space between them as he leaned in closer to her. 

“You’re so pretty,” Steve was struggling to focus on her as Sasha tried to catch anyone’s eye to come to her rescue. 

“Thank you, but I think you’ve had enough to drink,” Sasha was shrinking into herself as the blonde kept shuffling closer, ignoring that the woman was trying to give herself some space. 

Clint swooped in, sitting between them both as he was given a soft drink. Tony was so pissed off with his reckless behaviour that the archer had been banned from the alcohol, and all of the staff knew not to serve him any, winking at Sasha before starting to talk to the now confused Steve loudly. Pepper and Tony were wrapped up in each other, as were Vision and Wanda, and Banner and Natasha had disappeared a while back. Bucky and Sam were having one of their usual competitions to one-up each other, while Scott had gone straight back to San Francisco to be close to his kid, leaving only Thor and Clint available to save Stark’s niece from the drunk advances of the super soldier. 

Sasha was graceful, trying to edge away from the bar without Steve noticing, but apparently, he wasn’t drunk enough to get distracted. Barton gave the woman an apologising look, and then promptly pulled her onto his lap and kissed her on the cheek, making the Captain turn bright red and scamper off to Bucky and Sam. 

“Thank you,” Sasha whispered, though quite uncomfortable at being perched on the male’s knee on the bar stool. 

“If I could let you go and not risk Steve coming back I would; unfortunately, I think he’s had enough to make him very persistent. I can walk you back to your room if you like? You look as though this isn’t your sort of thing,” Barton chuckled, keeping his arm around her waist, though in a very gentleman’s place. 

“If Tony hadn’t dragged me into the dress and down the stairs, I’d be quite happy to be sat upstairs on my own,” Sasha shared.

“Then let me escort you back to save you from drunks,” Clint offered his arm, jumping up in an overacting manner, making sure to make enough of a scene to stop Steve from chasing after the woman. 

The archer admired the wall art when they got back to Sasha’s little hideout. Her bed was dropped low onto the floor, practically a mattress on top of some planks on the carpet it seemed. But the sheets were of the best quality and matched the patterns on her wall as FRIDAY opened a screen for the attention of the young woman regarding Pepper and Tony’s diaries. Sasha was quiet and pulling some faces at the conflicting schedules, sighing loudly than she meant to as Clint cautiously approached the female, and gently gave her a hug. 

“Thank you,” she said in a small voice. 

“Well, it’s hard sometimes to watch us, I know,” he admitted, stepping back to try and not overwhelm the female. “We’re an overbearing bunch with our hearts on our sleeves, a ton of issues and everything to lose it seems. And you got thrown straight into the middle of it.”

“Mostly because it was a move to stop me being hurt by the media chasing me down with nothing better to do,” Sasha shrugged. “You don’t have to leave if you don’t fancy it. I don’t like being the only sober in a room of drunks, I’m just going to get changed in the bathroom.” Her smile was slight as she bent over to get her pyjamas out of the drawer. 

“Nah, with Tony banning me from the booze it was feeling like it was dragging anyway,” Clint shrugged. “I’ll go hide in my room, don’t feel like imposing.”

“Or you could stay and watch a movie? I won’t be going to sleep anytime soon, Tony would just be waking me up in a bit to moan about something,” her smile was graceful and genuine as the archer dipped his head. 

“Sure, just let me go and get changed,” Barton hadn’t seen anything like this from the girl before as she closed the door to her bathroom and got changed. 

He was hesitant to knock back on her door, especially when Tony was barreling down the corridor at full speed. “This isn’t what you think Stark!” The archer stuttered, backing off from his niece’s room at full speed as Iron Man came pelting past her door. The noise attracted attention, especially when Barton was running the other direction, and caught by Sasha while he was looking in complete terror at her uncle.

“Hey,” she softly smiled as Clint tried to make sense of the situation. “I thought you were gone a while to get changed.”

“What?” Apparently, drama was the only thing outside of mission that attracted the attention of the Avengers, with everyone sticking their heads out of rooms to see what had Tony riled, his voice echoing off the corridors. 

“I asked Clint to come watch a movie with me, since you’ll get more drunk and come dribble on about how much you love Pepper later on, so there’s no point in going to sleep and company sounded better,” Sasha shrugged, looking at her uncle as though he’d grown another head. 

“No funny business? He wasn’t hitting on you?” Stark’s voice was squeaky, as Pepper found the source of the commotion. 

“Where were you when Rogers was hitting on her and cornering her at the bar?” Barton was in disbelief, though not realising that Sasha’s arms were still around his torso. 

“He was sliming over Pepper,” the brunette female chuckled, a heat rising through the body of the archer as it vibrated through him. “It’s a movie Tony, and I am a grown-up,” she gently reprimanded him, helping Clint back to his feet. 

Looking guilty, Stark muttered an apology and disappeared to follow Pepper out of the heat of the noise. Sasha was shaking her head and gestured for Barton to come follow up on her offer of a movie. 

“Clint,” Pepper was glaring at the Avenger one morning when he was getting the coffee ready. He looked at the CEO with surprise and froze at the icy look. “Explain why Sasha has been so moody lately.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement and a demand. 

“I don’t know. She’s been sleeping all the time of late as well. She keeps muttering to herself and jerking about…” Clint frowned. “Didn’t they change her therapist a few weeks back at the health centre she goes to?”

“If they did, then neither Tony nor I was notified,” Pepper was tapping away into her emails and notifications as her niece dragged herself into the kitchen, looking as though she had barely slept when Barton knew she’d been asleep for at least fourteen hours. “Sasha, did they change your therapist?”

“...They said they told you they were putting me with a student,” she mumbled, trying to make sense of the world. “He said the medication was just enabling me and took me off it.” She was rubbing her eyes, trying to shake the firm hold of sleep as Pepper went white with rage and started dialling Tony’s number. Clint was hugging the young woman as he watched her aunt with curiosity, stroking her head softly and trying to protect her from the storm that was very quickly gathering speed. “Tony! Did that therapy centre contact you? They’ve taken Sasha off her medication cold turkey,” she barked, her anger clearly not directed at her partner. 

“They what? Sasha signed a form directing they were to run everything past us,” Stark’s temper was quickly escalating as he dialled the number for the clinic. “I’m calling in regards to Sasha Potts,” he calmly stated to the receptionist. “She’s had some treatment adjustment, and as her guardians, we were not informed.”

“The notification form we require was absent,” the receptionist chirped back. “We are unable to discuss anything without the patient’s consent.” 

“I am the patient,” Sasha groaned from the archer’s arms. “And I will come in to sign another one if that therapist you changed me with destroyed it because apparently it’s all enabling me.”

“Date of birth please?” The receptionist was hesitant, and the sound of management being called was in the background.

“February 23 1989,” Sasha mumbled, her head lifting slowly from the comfort of Barton’s embrace. 

“Please wait while I transfer you,” the receptionist was sounding nervous. 

“Mr Smith’s office,” another female voice, sounding very bored. 

“That’s funny, I don’t pay for Mr Smith to be my niece’s therapist, I pay for Dr Stone’s time,” Tony snapped. “When was Sasha Potts transferred to Mr Smith?” 

“Without patient consent-” the bored tone continued.

“Given the breaking news that is scrolling across the channels, then I don’t think I even need to mention patient consent, I’ll be talking to my lawyers,” Stark snapped. “The bastard leaked it to the press that our niece is being enabled by us along with photos of her in the clinic being dropped off by us,” he snarled, punching the wall next to him. “Pepper, we need to get another prescription of the medication that Sasha was on before that idiot interfered.”

“We need to get a new therapist involved,” Pepper sighed, bringing up the news channels in the screen in front of her. “Money can usually buy silence,” she grumbled, looking apologetic towards the two. “Clint, can I leave Sasha under your care for a bit?”

“If you’re okay with it?” Barton was a little stunned by the whole scenario, not realising that he had been gently rocking the woman, peeking a glance down at her as she nodded her head, refusing to look up from burying her head in his chest. “Let’s go find something good to watch and get some food I think,” he coaxed, starting to lead her away from the chaos as the Avengers all came dashing down to the kitchen. Pepper was already ordering food for everyone from her phone as the pair slipped away. 

Barton nagged Sasha into the shower for the first time in a few days and got out a clean pair of pyjamas to get into afterwards. It looked like she was fighting through a thick fog to get anywhere as the sounds of the Avengers on a new mission charged out of the house. Clint patted the bed next to him, her hairbrush in hair as he gave her a look to say that she wasn’t allowed to refuse him. 

“He said that everyone was enabling me,” she mumbled, tilting her head back for the archer to brush through her wet hair. “That I needed pushing back into normality.”

“Well, he’s an idiot. He’s clearly anti-medication and enforced it onto you to suffer through his own beliefs,” Clint shook his head, getting FRIDAY to bring up the online library of movies that Stark had, and got her favourite Disney movie Lilo and Stitch playing. “Medication meant you could function, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“It was a crutch,” she murmured, her eyes glazed over. “Stopping me.”

“It was a crutch in the way that kept you walking. Some people can’t walk without them,” Clint argued, kissing the top of her head as he finished brushing the knots out. “There is nothing wrong with medication.”

“I’m twenty-eight, and still need guardians for my health,” Sasha muttered, collapsing her weight against Barton, not even her favourite movie able to capture her attention. 

“I’m older than you and still need your uncle to step in and tell me that I’m being ridiculous because the divorce was finalised last week and I’m throwing myself into situations that’ll get me killed,” Clint argued forcefully, levelling their eyes. She looked perfectly kissable, her blue eyes sucking him in as Barton had to resist her in such a vulnerable state. “Right now I’d love to prove to you how much of a problem you aren’t, but I think I’d just regret making my moves while you are so fragile,” he groaned, their foreheads resting together. 

“Tony is calling, do you wish to accept the call?” FRIDAY interrupted the whole situation, separating their faces before Sasha sunk back into resting against the male. 

“Hi Tony,” the younger woman smiled wanly, looking exhausted about the whole scenario. 

“So I might have waltzed into that clinic and got all your patient records,” Ironman paused, finally taking note of their position. “Do I need to threaten you about other things as well Barton?”

“He doesn’t need threatening, he’s castrated himself already about me being vulnerable and not daring himself to make any move,” Sasha was calm in the face of a brewing storm. “He’s making sure I’m okay and trying to stop all my anxiety winning.”

“Well, you’ve never been close to anyone before, makes me nervous,” Tony snapped back, glaring at the archer. 

“You waltzed into the clinic?” Sasha was trying to realign the conversation. 

“I’ve got all your medical files. Turns out that student was a journalist, just made him a big name,” Stark grunted. “He fooled the clinic, that’s why you got brushed with all the anti-medication slander. He believes that stuff despite that he’s never had anything wrong with him. Heard a rumour that a famous relation was in attendance, and then hit the jackpot with you being my niece. He’s about to be torn to pieces by my lawyers,” he was being grumpy more over Clint’s closeness than the whole medical incident. 

A giggle escaped from Sasha, as tears built up in her eyes. She was in full hysterical laughter, clutching at her sides as both men gazed at her intensely with worry. 

“You hate the thought of not having my full attention,” she laughed, trying to wipe the tears away at the situation. “You’re jealous.”

Tony’s mouth was agape. Even more so when his niece pulled Clint down into a hot kiss, though it was harder to tell who was more speechless when the two finally broke apart. 

“We’re discussing this when I get home young lady,” Stark muttered and quickly ended the call. 

“What?” Barton was barely able to string a sentence together, gazing in shock at the woman in his arms. “Tony is going to kill me…” he groaned, realising the weight of the scenario. 

“He won’t, you’ll just be under scrutiny by him and Pepper the whole time,” Sasha was dozing in his arms, the film having resumed. Her lashes were resting against her pale cheeks, the emotional toll taking her energy away. “Don’t leave me,” she murmured, drifting back into sleep as the archer kissed the top of her head. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it darling,” he whispered, squeezing her in his grasp.


	3. Chapter 3

You were the apple of Tony’s eyes. Orphaned the second he was when your parents were brutally murdered by the Winter Soldier. He adored you and wanted to protect you from everything. You were as bright as his potential and seemed to be everything he wasn’t in personality. All the teachers had nothing but praise for you in the reports they gave, and when you decided that you wanted to go to Cambridge University to get away from the press, there was nothing he wouldn’t give for you to accomplish it. 

He’d bought your flat for the four-year course, and even got you a summer job with a partnership company so you wouldn’t need to leave the UK from boredom. Though he hadn’t really understood your need to work. 

Banner had been sent over to keep an eye on you on several occasions, not that the scientist tended to mind since it would keep him out of the way of danger and the big man. He found you as charming as your older brother, and much worse in many ways as you kept evading all of Tony’s babysitting measures to abuse the fact that the UK had a drinking age of eighteen. He also purposely kept quiet about your surname being related to THE Tony Stark, you had always passed it off as a coincidence to anyone who asked, and Bruce was aware that it kept the press away. 

He didn’t fail to notice your relentless flirting with the military kinds who would frequent the labs during your summer jobs. Something that Tony was quick to pick up on as well during a flying visit, as your ‘no dating while studying’ rule was argued. Passing your engineering course with a first put you in a strong position for any company, not that there really was a chance of you going to work anywhere but your namesake. 

Pepper was more than thrilled to get you added to the payroll, and put you under Banner’s supervision with all the big projects, along with Tony’s close support as well. Most days you hadn’t needed to even get out of your pyjamas as you worked from the lab at the mansion. Then when Rhodes started to come in for maintenance on the war machine suit, you were in your element. 

The instant chemistry between you and Rhodes was a smack to your brother’s face. He could threaten his friend all he liked, but that wouldn’t stop you from your determined course of action. And you wouldn’t listen to anything Tony had to say on not dating any of the Avengers. You lived with them, and you patched them all up afterwards, especially Tony. To date an Avenger was the natural for you. 

Tony would try and schedule missions as haphazardly as possible, trying to stop any dates, only for you two to stop ‘planning’ dates and to do everything when Rhodes wasn’t on a mission or asleep. It evaded his attention for a few weeks that he wasn’t even going home properly and had space in your wardrobe for a few changes of clothes. Then when FRIDAY notified him of Rhodes’ presence leaving your room in the middle of a night, he was struggling to accept the inevitable. 

It was harder to say which one of you were more heartbroken to be on opposite sides of the Sokovian Accords. 

You couldn’t understand how willing Tony was to bow to someone else, to remove the blame and everything you thought he would proudly accept. It shattered your precious sibling bond as Fury hid you with the agents, keeping clear of the destruction, until you were on the run with Wanda, trying to evade being captured at the airport. 

Tony didn’t have you put in a cell, you were under house arrest as you hadn’t been directly involved in the fight itself. There was nothing to be pinned on you, but it was all highly suspicious how the suits had all the upgrades without being at the mansion. Ross had begrudgingly accepted the house arrest, you weren’t allowed near any of the labs or equipment so it was just like being in a cell you could walk around. 

You didn’t even know that Rhodes had been effectively paralysed until you were called down to the therapy room one afternoon. Neither Rhodes nor you could stand it, and you ended up hugging tightly, tears flowing as your apologies were lost on each other. 

“Hey,” Rhodes was standing in front of me as I stared off watching the street before me. The past few months had put more than a few grey hairs on my head, and I was started to resemble Tony a little too much for our eight year age gap. “Earth to Stank,” he chuckled, passing me the latte as he took a seat opposite. 

“I’m sure I’ve clarified that Stank is Tony, that parcel was not for me,” I smiled, gladly taking the warm cup from the tray. 

“I have to keep you on your toes,” he grinned, casually linking his fingers through mine over the table. “Besides, if I don’t have Stark senior nagging me about something I assume that something is going wrong with us,” he was comfortable in his chair. Things were unsteady for everyone following Steve breaking just about every one out of the security prison, and relationships were very fragile, especially since I was the only one who hadn’t been imprisoned in one of those cells. Rhodes had managed to persuade Ross that I didn’t need to be entirely on house arrest given how I had yet to do anything that could count against me, as one of Tony’s drones hovered nearby. “Also, say I have a present for you back at the house, and I haven’t asked for your brother’s permission…” 

I gave my boyfriend a side glance, tilting my head as I knew that Tony would be screaming at the monitor and likely grabbing a suit to come and interrupt us. “Why are you wording things in such a manner?” 

“If you think you’re proposing in such a way!” Tony hadn’t even bothered covering his face as he stamped onto the pavement, attracting the attention of the entire street. 

“Actually I just didn’t bother to check before getting a pet,” Rhodes gave a sheepish smile. 

“You got me a pet?” I squealed, leaping into my boyfriend’s open arms and peppering his face with kisses. “I want to go meet them!” 

“You are both grounded,” my brother muttered, while I could practically hear the amusement of the rest of the Avengers who would be gathered around the screen. 

Rhodes made sure we took our time getting back. The drone was chattering with activity as Tony got back to the mansion, everyone battling to line up outside of our room, apparently the suspense was going to be the end of the world’s Avengers instead of any other kind of interference. 

“Rhodey!” I whined loudly, jumping onto his back while sticking out my bottom lip. His laugh reverberated through my torso as he steadily walked down the corridor. The rest of the Avengers were impatiently waiting to see what had been hidden from Tony, who was also waiting impatiently at the back of the ‘queue’. 

The former military man was taking his sweet time to unlock my room, purposely forgetting which key it was as he nudged mine out of my hand to stop me leaping forward. He was humming cheerfully, the only person present who was enjoying the situation until I managed to push his keys in and avoid breaking my door in. 

A tiny little kitten was curled up on our bed. A little black and white furball who had been sleeping peacefully until seconds previously. The adoration I already felt for the tiny creature was only going to increase, as there was a diamond ring on the collar. 

“I lied Tony,” Rhodes was down on one knee when I turned about, stumped by the extra surprise. “Terri, you’ve been nothing but wonderful to me, even with all the bumps along the way, I can’t imagine a life without you by my side, will you marry me?” 

“YES!” I startled everyone and had to remember to gently put the kitten down before we started to fumble around with the collar. I was shaking in excitement, jumping into Rhodes’ arms before anything else came to mind. Natasha was getting the ring off for my fiance as I couldn’t stop kissing him in excitement. 

“For God’s sake will you at least let me know when the wedding is,” my brother was pouting as our friends all poured their congratulations over us, the Russian having passed the ring to Rhodes so he could slide it onto my finger. 

I was sobbing as my other half kept trying to wipe my tears off my cheek. The diamond was a princess cut on a platinum ring, held securely in a twist as I openly admired it. Rhodey kissed my forehead as Steve passed me the box of tissues. 

“You can’t make me cry on our wedding day,” I finally choked out, realising that I was still crying. “You’ll ruin my makeup.”

“Never planned on making you this happy to cry darling,” Rhodey chuckled, squeezing me gently.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve was amazed to find out she was still alive and okay, and a lot younger than expected. 

The same blonde hair and baby blue eyes gazed back at him as Fury brought her into the room. Another tested serum on his baby sister as Amanda smiled gracefully to the room of superheroes. Though apparently her strength had been supplemented for speed. The army had gotten somewhat interested once Steve was iced to see if genes had any relation to how well things worked, and then they’d put her into cryosleep when HYDRA got more than a little too interested in the younger Rogers. She was a top secret project, left asleep until six months after Steve had been recruited to the Avengers, and now revealed as the latest addition to the team once they were certain that everything in her worked as it should. 

She was the polar opposite in personality to her brother, breezy and casual and preferably into the modern technology, choosing to stand and text while Fury was introducing her. 

“Rogers? As in…?” Natasha was gesturing between the two blondes, the female finally lifting her head with a graceful smile and nodding in confirmation. 

“He’s the older one, not bad looking for ninety odd,” Amanda breezed, a fresh laugh escaping her lips as Steve was trying to process the shock. 

“So, are genes of any relevance to the serum’s effects?” the resident scientist was curious as Stark was eyeing the newcomer up in a defensive manner. 

“Turns out that it helps influence the success, but as it also shows, differences can be great,” Amanda stepped in, hijacking the computer through her phone and bringing the data and studies done on her and Steve. “They expected my strength to improve, but as this data shows, I’m reasonably strong but nothing that cannot be achieved through training, it’s my speed that has the benefit. Plus it’s given me a good distracting arse,” she grinned, trying to loosen the atmosphere as the team felt the discomfort. 

“So how come you’ve never tried to contact me?” Steve was sounding slightly hurt, which only intensified when his sister looked silently to Fury for permission for some time alone with her brother. He granted it with a nod, and Amanda made the physical suggestion they go away from prying eyes and ears. 

Stark was watching the siblings with intense scrutiny before the Avengers all turned to Fury with judgement in their expressions.

“She’s an excellent marksman. A ballistics specialist that’s been doing a lot of work in the background for me, not HYDRA or SHIELD. She was afraid that the public would have a major backlash if she was revealed not long after Captain America was found and defrosted. Then the Chitauri and Loki happened, and Amanda became even more withdrawn. She’s always been obsessed with technology, she used her ‘normality’ to get up to date with everything now available, and hated that there were whispers it was just because of her name that she was referred to as an expert for anything to do with firearms and marksmanship. They dragged her name through the mud, then she made a point in the case when she had to go and rescue a newbie on a mission. She completed their task and her own without the enemy even realising that she had been in,” Fury explained, though he wouldn’t take his eyes off the siblings, who had finally embraced in a brief hug, and the female was wiping her tears away. 

“So why bring her to us?” Stark was sounding much colder than usual, even after all the differences between him and Captain America, to suddenly thrust another ‘problem’ into the team was almost like Fury wanted them to fail. 

“Because she needs some normalcy,” Fury stated, looking at Tony like he was an idiot. “She has no one right now. She’s an outcast in the whole company and has nothing to hold her together. The Avengers are individuals who all have abilities like she does, and her brother.” 

“Why now?” Natasha’s question was sharp, and Fury couldn’t avoid her piercing gaze. 

“Because if she gets pushed any further out from my people, then she’s going rogue, that much I can guarantee,” he finally admitted. “She’s been honest with me from the start. The loneliness is starting to bother her, and that’s when problems start.”

Steve wasn’t very comfortable with the idea of who Amanda had become. He’d hoped that she had gotten married and had her own family when he left. She had just followed his footsteps because she was so lost without him, though Bucky’s mother had tucked her under her wing for much of Steve’s absence at least, to reintroduce the two old friends had the older Rogers feeling very protective of his baby sister, but the three got on as they always had. Bucky and Amanda had grown up as Steve and Bucky had, there was nothing romantic between the two with any potential, especially when she was teaching them both about modern technology. 

Amanda’s obsession with the endless possibilities, and then being introduced to Tony’s brainchild of FRIDAY and Vision. It was impossible to keep her out of Stark’s lab and away from Dr Banner. Natasha was feeling a little threatened by the new arrival and took it upon herself to make a point in front of the new girl to passionately make out with Bruce. Only for the opposite reaction as Amanda was bent over double in laughter at the over-the-top display. The blonde female explained that as lovely as it was to poke at Bruce’s brain, he wasn’t her type as Wanda, and Black Widow both started to take an interest. 

The trio would frequently be seen texting furiously in their group chats or gossiping in the corridors and communal areas when they weren’t on missions, and the men were positive that they had all synced up on their cycles after a few months when they all burst into tears after purposely watching a series of sad Disney movies. 

Rhodes and Stark were trying to smooth out a slight problem in Rhodes’ new suit, frowning at the problem before Amanda let herself into the lab to retrieve her tablet from the charging point.   
“Hey, Rogers, you’ve got small hands right?” Rhodes was respectful to the woman from their first meeting, especially when they bonded over military missions of their pasts. 

“Why?” The blonde questioned them suspiciously, though her natural curiosity had her peeking over Stark’s shoulder within seconds of asking. 

“We’ve found a loose wire, but our hands are too big,” Tony frowned, reluctantly passing on the information before handing over the soldering iron to the female. 

She poked into the mess, her tongue sticking out in concentration as the repair was completed. She smiled widely at Stark and bounced out the room with her tablet, leaving both men to marvel at the work. 

“Admit you, you hate her for her name only,” Rhodes chuckled, stretching his mended leg out in the suit. 

“How can she be Capiscle’s little sister? I swear something’s wrong!” Tony started to rant, his cheeks flushed a little in anger. “She’s got nothing of his personality, she’s up on her technology and good with it. she shares nothing of his music tastes and actually prefers the stuff I tend to get playing when I’m in a mood, and then she commands the kitchen when she feels like it and neither Natasha or Wanda find anything about her weird!” Sam and Bucky were wide-eyed at the door to the lab, sharing a look as Stark glared at them both. “If any of the girls or Rogers find out about this, I will personally take you all down.”

Tony was hosting another of his parties as they came back from destroying a rebellious pocket of HYDRA that had managed to survive. They were all glammed up, enjoying the chance to polish up and show themselves off to everyone, especially after going through the hell of finding the experimentations. Stark wasn’t able to keep his eyes off the slinky dress of Amanda, the blonde had stepped into the modern era without a bother, the metallic dress was slung over her left shoulder and ceased at mid-thigh on her left side. It trailed down to her knee on the right side and followed her incredible figure that she had worked so hard to achieve and maintain. Steve had spat his drink out when she appeared and immediately started complaining to Bucky about the attention she was suddenly getting. 

Stark was mumbling to himself as the bartender served him another drink, grumbling defiantly about keeping his hands to himself when Banner came to keep him company. 

“She’s been following you with her eyes all around the room,” Bruce quietly advised, asking for a soft drink as Sam asked the younger Rogers for a dance. “I think you’re just hung up on her surname. You’d be all over her if she wasn’t Steve’s little sister. You’ve got it stuck in your head that she’s just like him.”

“Called it,” Natasha was next to Bruce with a broad smile on her face after listening in to their conversation, enjoying a little PDA with her boyfriend. 

“You what?” Tony snapped, feeling very wound up as he couldn’t stop watching Amanda twirling herself about. 

“You fancy her, but you can’t see past the fact that she’s Steve’s sister, and therefore in your stupid head, she’s just like him,” Black Widow calmly replied, linking hands with Bruce as the scientist was avoiding his friend’s accusatory gaze. “Go have a dance with her, sleep with her or whatever, but stop hating her from afar. She’s still deciding if she wants to stay or not, and I’m certain that Steve’s trying to make her leave as well.”

Stark glared at them both, downing the whisky before going to rescue the blonde female who was being cornered by her brother. He grabbed her hand and literally dragged her to the dance floor, ignoring the gaping looks before twirling her a little to the beat, not saying a word as Amanda quickly worked into his groove, ignoring the stifling atmosphere that existed outside of them both. Bucky was stopping Steve from interfering, as Tony had to finally look at the blonde woman when a slow dance came on.

Iron Man was amazed when she was graceful in leaving the floor, leaving him alone as she leant against the bar, and asking for water. He was interested, especially when Natasha and Banner started to edge him off to the bar. 

“So, serum means you can’t get drunk?” Stark finally opened a conversation as the female was sat on a stool, sipping at the ice cold drink. 

“Metabolism enhances it, so it’s not even worth trying. Tried enough times when I first was brought out of hibernation, then it just got really boring,” Amanda casually shrugged. “What did I do to you to make you hate me?” She blurted out, unable to keep it back as a blush came up. “You’ve been avoiding me since I arrived.”

“He’s been avoiding trying to admit he’s had a crush on you from the start,” Steve was the last person the pair were expecting to join in on the conversation, especially when it wasn’t even a disapproving tone about the idea. “He’s been so focused on the fact we’re siblings that he hasn’t even tried to entertain the rather obvious to the rest of us,” he smiled before leaving them both in the stunned silence. 

Tony skipped the whole pretences with glass and snatched the bottle straight from the hand of the shocked bartender. Amanda was looking abashed and left the billionaire alone while going to get some fresh air. Wanda and Vision were very cuddly on the sofa, in their own world as the younger Rogers made sure to give them a wide berth, and gazed over the skyline. She was a little cold in the night air, but nothing felt as icy as the loneliness that was becoming more and more striking with the passing of the minutes. Then a warm jacket was dropped over her shoulders in a surprise move. 

Stark was the last person that Amanda was expecting to see, and even less so as he kissed her hesitantly at first. It was almost sweet, until the blonde pulled herself away from the entire situation, using her enhanced speed to lock herself away in her own room. There was a lot of alcohol and peer pressure, it was more likely to be out of pity and curiosity as Rogers got herself ready for bed. Most of the Avengers had drifted off before that point, it wasn’t unusual as she quickly showered, mostly so she could then get a hairbrush through her hair that Natasha had emptied half a can of hairspray over. Someone was trying her door when she finally stepped out, and her curiosity got the better of Rogers.

Tony was leaning against the door frame, looking like a kicked puppy as she finally opened it. Amanda raised an eyebrow in question, until Stark kissed her again, the passion overflowing as he cupped her face. His skin was rough, but his touch was gentle, holding her as though she was a precious glass model instead of a ballistics expert who would regularly storm into battle. He overwhelmed Rogers’ senses, her eyes fluttering shut as she let herself get swept up in her emotions and dreams. 

“I’ve been so focused on your surname,” Tony was muttering between kisses, stripping them both of their clothes as Amanda responded eagerly to his teasing touches. “I forgot there’s an entire woman behind it,” he moaned as she bit his neck. 

“I might be Steve’s sister, but that’s where the family ends,” she purred in his ear, nibbling on the lobe as the last of their clothing landed on the floor. Her rear end was glorious beneath his hands as Stark tried to manoeuvre the woman to the bed. 

The morning sun peeked through the curtains. Tony was feeling a little sore, but not in the places he was expecting after a party. A soft scent of roses wafted into his nose as a warm source cuddled into his naked form. It felt peaceful as the billionaire nuzzled into the head of hair, not bothering to open his eyes until someone wouldn’t stop pounding at the door. 

“Tony, I think they found out,” Amanda muttered from his chest, unwilling to move from his embrace as Stark realised it hadn’t been a wishful fantasy. “But it’s too comfy,” she whined. 

Both of their phones lit up on the side table, notifying that the group chat with all of the Avengers in was going mental as the pounding on the door continued. Tony reluctantly grabbed at his phone, just to stop the noises, and then started chuckling at the barrage of messages. 

_Bruce: FINALLY!_

_Natasha: We should throw another party just to celebrate this occasion._

_Clint: Does this mean that it’ll be a different kind of tension going on now?_

_Bruce: The lab is not for any sexual activity…_

_Steve: I’m slightly grossed out hearing the noises. But it’s been long overdue? You were both annoying me about it._

_Wanda: Told you Stark was confused._

Amanda kissed at his neck, attracting his attention back to her. 

“We could get a shower together, water conservation?” She posed to him, a cocked eyebrow sending shivers of pleasure down his spine.


	5. Chapter 5

It was hard not to stare, especially after Peter made such a show of stripping his shredded shirt off in front of Gamora on the ship. It made Vik flush bright red before she turned back to her work. She kept her head down and didn’t know the details of any of their missions, she just needed to make sure that the ship stayed in one piece, undetected and go away fine. She poked at an exposed control panel and sighed as she thought about how much it would cost to upgrade it to the standards that Quill had been blabbing on about. A bag of metal was dropped into her lap by the passing Rocket, before Groot took a seat next to her, grinning at the mechanic. 

“I hope you didn’t lose any more limbs again,” she teased the tree, nudging him in the side. 

He just shrugged and showed her everything. “I am Groot.”

“Yeah, I know I’m a worrier,” she smiled, opening the bag. “At least you brought me a present this time, though if it will cover everything Quill’s on with is another matter.”

“I am Groot,” the plant sympathised. 

“He has plans and dreams, I’m just here to make them real. That’s what I get paid to do, I get paid peanuts, but it’s income,” Vik ravelled off, carefully inspecting the state of the wiring. 

“I am Groot,” he smiled and patted the woman on the head in a surprising move before slinking off to his room without another thought. 

Rocket was chuckling to himself in earshot of the mechanic, who half-heartedly glared at the scientific experiment. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, Quill has all these ideas, and you’ve got almost no hope of making it perfect reality.”

“He’s an idealist, head in the clouds, and this is barely going to maintain the motherboard, never mind all those upgrades and cloaking devices he’s been banging on about,” Vik shook her head. “All I can manage is what I do. I try telling him otherwise, and he doesn’t listen.” 

Rocket gave a sympathetic smile, a mirror image to the one that Groot had given the woman. The only two Terrans that were out in the wider universe and Quill had used that to persuade Vik to take up a bed space on his ship. His pay was pitiful, but she got to see a lot more sights than any other time she’d been anywhere. She never knew about what they were doing on planets, and that was her only request. If she knew nothing, then she could be held accountable for nothing was her motive. Peter was glaring at the female as she turned back to the exposed wiring, and picked up the soldering iron which she had been using to finish the maintenance. 

“Stop blaming the girl for us not having a cloaking device,” the racoon snorted. “You’ve never given her the materials to make one possible.”

“She’s meant to be a miracle worker!” Quill snapped, an angry glance towards the woman. 

“A miracle worker on getting ships off the ground that should have long been laid to waste. Not at producing things out of nothing!” Vik was quick to anger, standing on her feet before she could grab hold of her temper. “You promised me the materials for the plans! You’ve barely given me enough to keep her going! Never mind all these upgrades you have in your fancy airhead!”

“I am Groot,” the tree had emerged at the noise. 

“Yeah, we should keep her, I like the feisty nature,” Rocket chuckled as Vik threw the package of metal and wiring at Peter’s head and stormed off to her quarters. 

Vik collapsed back on the bed, sighing loudly in annoyance at herself that she had let Quill get under her skin. There were always worse people out there to work for, but to find someone as arrogant as him was going to be a tall order to beat. She pulled her top off in a fit of hasty anger, leaving her skin vulnerable for all to see as she muttered about finding her things for a shower. 

“Woah, did not need to see that!” Quill’s voice was the last one she expected before tugging the towel around her exposed figure and spinning around in a glare. “I never realised that he experimented on you,” he muttered, looking away as her gaze softened. 

“I’m Teran, just like you. They got curious, especially with the natural red hair and fair skin. I resemble Rocket under all that fur I imagine,” she spoke aloofly. “I was going to shower, can this not wait?”

“Next job should get you the materials to make the cloaking device,” he shortly replied, then slammed the door behind his exit, and left the woman shaking her head. 

A few days of avoiding the rest of the crew was all it took before they were hovering again over some rebellious colony. The Collector was involved, Vik would always just know if he was a link in the chain, and it always made her want to hide in the deepest, darkest parts of the hull. She could remember the haze of pain while she was amongst his treasures, and he had made it clear that she would always be ‘welcome’ back to it as a shiver ran down her spine. The endless experiments to find out her reactions and limits would leave her in agony and slipping in and out of consciousness for days on end. He would merely smile when she told him of the pain and would force her to describe it like an expert sommelier would on wine. Apparently there had been a large price put out for the acquisition of a naturally red headed female Teran species, something rather specific, and Vik had never found out why those specific terms were applied, but what she had experienced at the hands of some being who called himself ‘scientifically curious’, but she could only associate as cruelty. 

A dull thud behind her brought the woman out of her past focus and into surprise. Peter had bought everything that was required to make the cloaking device a reality. 

“I paid him off to make sure you won’t fall into his grasp again,” Quill announced, his tone was sharp and leaving the rest of the crew speechless. 

“What did you say to him?” Rocket’s voice was low as the female began to admire the goods. 

“Nothing. He saw my back. You are not the only one who was manipulated by scientists,” she murmured. “I imagine we may even have matching scars.”

“I am Groot,” the tree sat on the other side. 

“Nothing to be sorry for, neither of you had anything to do with my capture and being sold,” she shrugged, focusing on the parts as she mentally began to put it all together. “Now, if everyone would mind, I need a few days.” 

Someone was poking her increasingly hard in the back, then they darted to hit one of the scars. A shriek of agony ripped through the air, tears threatening as Peter was pinned to the floor by the terrified reactions of the mechanic a foot shorter than him. Vik had been so absorbed in her work, she had taken no notice of the time. It had been at least three days since she had last slept, and over a day since her last force fed meal by Groot. She was shaking as everyone came rushing to see what was happening, and Quill had a new fear in his eyes before she slowly retreated off the man, her body physically shaking. 

Rocket was the first outsider to move, offering a comforting hug to the trembling woman as she sobbed into his fur openly. Gamora was hesitant to come in any further than necessary, as Quill made himself sit upright. It was the first time anything had been experienced in this whirlwind of emotion from the Teran female. Rocket was avoiding the spots on her back instinctively, mirroring the ones on his as he tried to calm the female on instinct alone. 

The project was left for Groot to examine, the plant carefully studying the nearly finished cloaking device, and the motherboard open for it to be attached in Vik’s quarters for her ease for repairs. Drax took off the second he realised that no one was actually in any danger, and Gamora was not far behind, leaving the distraught men behind with a terrorised female. 

“What did he do to you?” Rocket whispered, her tears not stopping as Peter couldn’t bring himself to look away. 

“He tried to make me anything but Teran,” she whispered back, unable to lift herself out of his grasp. 

“What?” Peter was unable to hide the fear in his voice as the two humans faced each other. Her brown eyes were shining with tears. 

“He heard that redheaded Terrans were the most sublime of the species, that there were medical marvels and that it would be redheads who would turn. He wanted to make the ultimate collectable, the birth of a new species,” she whispered. 

It was hours before either Rocket or Groot were prepared to leave the now slumbering woman. Both of them guarding her against the rest of the crew. Quill had left as soon as she told them, and made sure that no one would try to enter her quarters.

“The nightmares have stopped,” Rocket announced as he entered the cockpit, taking up his usual seat. 

“How long until she resumes normality?” Peter’s voice was detached and emotionless. 

“I am Groot.”

“She’s having another?” Rocket disappeared at the blink of an eye, leaving the two males together in a stifling environment. 

“I am Groot.”

“Yeah, I’m an asshole, I know. I shouldn’t have kept prying on her,” Quill snapped, his tone icy. 

“I am Groot.”

“I didn’t know he was involved!”

“I am Groot,” the plant shook his head and left, retracing the path that Rocket had taken moments earlier, leaving Peter in his own dark thoughts.

Rocket was surprised to find himself wrapped up in a blanket the following morning, and that the scars on Vik’s back were virtually the same as his when faced with her skin. 

“Hey, clothes on, I’m not Teran,” the racoon chuckled, making Vik jump a mile and cover her exposed breasts with her arms, and a dark flush across her face. “At least you seem less shaken than yesterday.”

“Yeah, when Quill poked me it was one of the points on my spine they loved to repeatedly dig into, testing me without the pain medication to see how far it could go,” Vik sourly replied, pulling her t-shirt on over her head. Her arms were riddled with needle marks, many overlapping as the device that she had been working on jumped into life, sounding a shrill alarm that had just about everyone into her room. “We’re being tracked, you need to lose them and then I can activate the cloaking!”

Gamora and Drax ran to arm themselves as Quill and Rocket threw themselves at the bridge. Groot was keeping Vik upright as she hurriedly finished the last additions to make it fully functioning for a temporary period. Her curse words were fluent in many languages as the device was finally soldered to the system, and she hit the button next to the exposed panel. 

“Vik, they stopped firing at us,” Rocket was sounding amazed as the woman hugged Groot tightly in celebration. “I have no idea what you’ve done, but you’ve got us out of that,” he murmured a strange sensation of pride in his tiny angry body. 

Peter was playing with an empty mug as the mechanic surfaced the following morning, staggering to the kitchen in a hungover haze. It was the first time that he had seen her in such a vulnerable state. Her ginger hair was in a short bob, keeping it around her chin, and her eyes were of a remarkable dark brown, like a milk chocolate whirlpool that was calling him to fall into their power. She was sat opposite him over some kind of hot liquid, she didn’t care what it was, her job was done for sure now as Quill refused to meet her gaze.

“You were stone cold sober throughout last night,” she muttered accusingly. 

“One of us had to be, need to control the ship,” Peter deflected it harmlessly. 

“I have vague memories of Earth,” Vik spoke up without a prompt. “I have a sister. Very talented. We got separated, and I got abducted. I think she’d have done much better in this, she was always much better at hiding her emotions and the likes.” 

“Quill, we’ve got some people asking for you!” Rocket hollered from the deck and attracted the attention of the whole crew. 

It was almost like looking into a time machine, as over the screens everyone was looking between Vik and the other redhead simultaneously. The woman was barely breathing as she soaked it up. It wasn’t possible. 

“Viktoria?” Whispered the other redhead. 

“Natalia?” 

“Oh boy,” a brunette male on the screen was suddenly calling for them to come to Earth. 

Natalia and Viktoria were tightly embraced, tears flowing as they realised they weren’t alone anymore. The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy were all bemused, even more so when Nat swiftly carried her little sister off to the privacy of her room. 

Peter ended up taking Tony’s offer of a few drinks and learnt that Natalia went as Natasha and under the alias ‘Black Widow’, a highly trained and lethal assassin. A brilliant skill set apparently learnt by the Russian. Viktoria had gone missing early on to their induction as orphans to the school, and Natasha had always believed there was something more sinister going on behind her sister’s disappearance, though extraterrestrial experimentation was not on the guesses even when the billionaire had drunk too much Asgard meade. It turned to night outside and became clear that the girls would not be returning to outside company that evening as Stark offered up some rooms for the Guardians to stay, especially given the state that the majority of the crew were in was only to be described as ‘drunk’ in a polite manner. 

Quill found himself staring at what he assumed was double vision from the alcohol in the morning, then as the world came into focus, found that he was looking at the Romanova sisters. Natasha kept her hair relatively short as well, though Viktoria’s was the more unkempt, and Natasha’s eyes were of the brightest blue, compared to the dark pools of her sibling.

“Did you really pay him off?” Natasha’s voice was threatening, it woke up the sleeping traveller with a surprising sobriety while his mechanic kept her silence. 

“If you’re talking about the Collector,” Quill was nervous and unable to stop himself, Tony had been very descriptive in telling the male about the assassin’s abilities. “Then I made sure he suddenly had no interest in regaining Vik,” he squeaked before the older sibling nodded and the younger one kissed his cheek. They departed from his room without a sound, “Hey, Vik,” he called out before he could stop, the younger woman reappearing at his doorway with a curious look on her face. He had never given her the time of day before, and couldn’t tell anyone why. “I know I’ve been an asshole, but you saved all of our butts back there because of your quick thinking and amazing talent. If you want to stay on, I’m happy to keep you,” he awkwardly offered, trying not to think back to her exposed and scarred skin.

“Those scars mean very little to me,” Vik opened up like no time before, closing the door behind her. “The one you poked is one of about four that still hurt with the amount of nerves and exposure that are close to the skin. Apparently, I have all my memories buried deep in those four, nothing else bothers me.”

Quill said nothing, stroking her cheek and brushing her hair back off her face as the pair studied each other in silence. 

“I’ve taken Tony’s offer up, I’m going to stay here for a while,” Vik quietly offered, gently removing his hand. 

“Why did we let her go again?” Rocket was snapping as Groot was pouring over the fractured motherboard, trying to force it to glue back together. 

“Because it was her decision!” Peter yelled back as they were barreling towards some planet. 

A net caught them and slowed the dissolving ship just outside of Earth’s atmosphere, before Quill turned an accusing glare onto the racoon, especially when a familiar face came up on the screen before them. “Quill, you haven’t requested clearance to land on Earth,” Vik chastised. It had been six months, and to hear her voice again was a soothing balm to his heart. 

“He’s had six months apart from you, and moping like a puppy,” Rocket cackled as the netting gently began to guide them down to land on the backgrounds of the compound. 

“You’ll all need thorough examination and questioning, I’ll vouch for you all, but I can’t guarantee that you won’t be led out in chains,” the mechanic was shaking her head as Fury watched the entire communication with close scrutiny. “I’ve put forward my personal recommendation but depends if they decide to take it. I’ve done what I can given that there wasn’t any chance for warning.”

Groot was memorising the staff as Vik was brought down along with her sister and Stark next to Fury. She had taken the time away from the Guardians to try and find her place in the galaxy, and Vik was finding it more and more that it wasn’t on her birth planet. The crew had all been given new clothing, and they were trying to get samples from everyone of DNA for record keeping until Rocket barrelled straight into the redhead on purpose and used her as a shield. 

“Rocket,” Vik’s warning was so half-hearted that even the racoon smiled back at his friend. “Just open up your mouth, they’ll swab a sample and then leave you be,” he couldn’t believe at how thinly veiled her threats were as the rest of the equipment disappeared, and the staff complied with the mechanic’s orders. “Come on, let’s get you all fed and watered.” 

Peter was keeping his distance as Drax, Groot, Gamora and Rocket all showered their affections over the Teran female. He was more on edge when Natasha took a seat next to him at the bar. 

“She’s missed you all terribly,” the Black Widow confirmed. “She’s been moping about missing you the most,” a sly smile coming across her sister’s face as a blush rose up Peter’s cheeks. “And apparently Rocket has been telling you off about letting her go and that no one’s taken her spot or a place in your bed since she left.”

“Is this a trial or a lesson?” Quill croaked, swilling his drink about in his hand.

“Some advice,” Natasha smiled. “My sister has the hots for you, I am a fully trained assassin and spy, and I know you’ve been struggling without her.” 

Quill was stumped as the siblings traded seats; apparently, Vik had been telling the crew how amazing and brilliant Natalia was at her profession, as they all bombarded her with questions about previous missions. It was impossible to not think of Vik as ‘his mechanic’ before their lips collided in a heated moment.

“Bedroom is upstairs?” Her voice was a rasp against his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

A small yet terrified smile graced the lips of SHIELD’s newest recruit. Helen was trying to be gentle to break her into the routine, but when half of the Avengers had come back wounded from their latest mission, then there was little time to grace with introductions as the nurse scrubbed up in the face of duty. Lizzi had been sourced with an extensive time spent in accident and emergency departments. A short nurse with dark hair and a pale face, one who was used to night shifts it seemed as the bullets were dug out of the shoulder of a very sweary Natasha while forcing in some sticks to give Sam something to bite down on before going in to stitch together what was left of his arm. Tony was staring at the newest nurse and then glared as she poured a healthy dose of disinfectant over a stab wound in his thigh. 

“So, we got a newbie?” Clint was finishing being cleaned, the only one who hadn’t required stitches or any major attention as Lizzi tried to remain focused on her task at hand, finishing settling in Captain America for a bed stay for a few days. 

“Elizabeth Smyth,” Helen smiled, introducing the nurse as she finished monitoring the IV fluids. “The first day on the job and you guys had to drag blood and bullets into my room,” she grinned as the nurse shook her head. 

“Why did a newbie start patching us up?” Stark was angsty, eyeing her up in disbelief before Rhodey started to come about, and beckoned for the nurse. 

“When she’s got years of experience on the field and in emergency departments,” the former military man croaked as Lizzi bent over Rhodes to check his bandages. “Lieutenant Smyth, it’s been a while,” he chuckled as the nurse immediately relaxed in his presence. 

“Indeed it has Rhodey, not a lot has changed if you’re still dragging yourself in to these medical places,” she teased, patting his hand. “I may be a starter at SHIELD Mr Stark, but I have endless amounts of experience in trauma from public service and military service.” 

“Plus she’s got all the answers to give you guys when you start,” Nick Fury had let himself into the medical room and looked at the state of the team. “Looks like you’ve all met the new nurse to help Helen since you all tend to insist on getting yourselves into these messes,” he glared at the Avengers before a full-on profile was brought up of the nurse. “I’ve done my investigations. Helen was struggling, and when a former military nurse who switched to the front lines of public service, and comes with a personal recommendation of an Avenger, then you tend to offer a nice salary and incentives.” 

“Please, I was on warnings for telling the public not to be so idiotic and adding charges to their bills for it,” Lizzi snorted. 

“Lizzi,” Steve was whining while laid up with flu.

“Come work with the Avengers, you won’t be bored!” She gritted her teeth, citing words that Fury had spun to her. “Steve, you’ve had paracetamol, and you need to keep drinking fluids, there’s literally nothing else for you to do except rest,” she scolded at the super soldier who was rolled in a burrito blanket on his bed. She was flitting between a few rooms, Stark, Rogers, Wilson and Romanov were all suffering greatly with a nasty bout of flu. And they were all perfectly capable of whining, which told the nurse that they were all in great danger of surviving the entire ordeal. 

The two gods from Asgard had been keeping their distance along with the likes of Barton and Lang, and Helen had been far too eager to get Lizzi to move in with the Avengers at the compound. She regularly found herself in charge of their diets and making sure that they all kept a healthy schedule, including forcing Tony to go to bed at regular hours, force-feeding Bruce when he was in the lab and inducting Steve to the modern era of technology. Loki was bemused as the nurse was stirring a large pot of chicken soup, admiring the woman openly as Thor was attracted to the kitchen by the smells. 

“I think this is the first time I have seen either of you in over a week, glad to know you have been avoiding the plague,” Lizzi stated, tasting the soup before going to find some bowls to serve it in. 

“We do not want that blasted thing,” the God of Mischief announced. “I am surprised anyone is capable of looking after them all while in their current state.”

“It is my job,” the nurse smiled, looking the Asgardian straight in the eye with a twinkle in her eye. “I am sure the second that you are smashed into the floor again by the Hulk then I will become of assistance.”

Loki found himself smiling in response to the woman, much to his brother’s amusement before the woman disappeared to return to her duties. 

Several days had passed before Fury dared to step foot in the compound. He loathed to come close after not having confirmation that the flu had cleared itself from the building, but there were pressing matters to discuss as he spied the worst of the victims. All of them wrapped in blankets and on the sofa in the common areas, and Lizzi in scrubs while taking temperatures with Loki loitering in the background with a new expression on his face. Rogers had fought the worst of the flu, and there were lingering remains in the rest of the team, hacking coughs which kept them all awake with the whining that would be given to their resident nurse, who apparently had the bedside manner befitting the dead according to Stark. 

“You were in no danger of death Tony, I wasn’t going to baby you to make you feel better when you were scornful about my whole idea of looking after your health,” Lizzi was quick to cut them all down when they started and held no prisoners when it came to making a point. Fury smiled, she was the breath of normality that was needed. Someone to mother them without coddling. The nurse turned to the director with a frown on her face. 

“Lieutenant Smyth, the Avengers appear as though they will all be ready to leave in a few days,” Fury couldn’t help but smile as a glare would silence any thoughts from the grumbling Stark. 

“Unless we discover that there are any further problems, I would actually recommend sending them out on a mission to shake themselves free of the house,” she calmly added before letting herself into the kitchen and beginning to make some tea.

“She is coming down with the same flu that you all have been fighting,” Loki was the last person they were expecting to have been monitoring the situation. “Thor is in the kitchen, and I suspect she will faint in a few seconds.”

The long clanging of a tray going flying as the other God came into view, looking surprised that his brother had spoken the truth. It was on closer inspection the nurse was ghastly white as the God of Mischief suggested putting her to bed in her room while they gathered the suppliers that she had loaded the rest of the team up with over the previous days. 

Lizzi was surprised to find out that it was dark when she woke up, and that she was safely in her bed and in pyjamas. She slowly sat up, her head throbbing as her sinuses were inflamed. The dizziness intensified, and she jammed her eyes shut in a fallible attempt to stop the world from spinning. 

“I believe now is our turn to tell you off,” Loki wasn’t the person who Lizzi was expecting to see, carrying in a tray with some hot chicken soup and fresh bread on it, along with a pile of medication options and some tea. 

“I thought you would have kept your distance,” she weakly humoured, massaging the bridge of her nose in an attempt to breathe easier. 

“Well, I make a few exceptions for the occasional mortal,” the man replied. “Eat up, and choose your poison before you go back to sleep.”

Loki brushed the hair off of Lizzi’s face. She had fallen asleep after taking the medication and eating as she had lectured the Avengers to do so. He had opted to stay behind and take care of the nurse since the mission that they had attended to was incredibly volatile without the God of Mischief getting involved. Fury had almost seemed relieved when he spoke up to keep out of the mission, and the relief on the faces of the Avengers was impossible to miss. She was burning up with fever and breathing heavily as the dark-haired male cleaned up quietly. It had fascinated him how she could work with the sickly and the weak and put herself at risk without another thought, and he had started to look forward to her verbal sparring on a daily basis. It made his heart ache to see her in such a vulnerable state. 

“Loki?” She murmured a few hours later, surprised to see him still present. 

“Hush,” he muttered, hugging her from behind after slipping into her bed. “You sleep better on an incline, so use me as such.”

“You’ll get sick,” Lizzi was trying to fight her fatigue. 

“Then you will have to look after me in return,” he didn’t know why but kissing her forehead was natural as he coaxed her back into a slumber.

“Shhh, you’ll wake them!” Hushed voices were giggling, and someone apparently didn’t know how to turn off the sound on their camera phone. Loki was loathed to open his eyes, but Lizzi was still out cold against him, a little more colour than last night in her cheeks before glaring at the returned Avengers. 

“If you wake her, then you deal with us both,” the God threatened quietly until the nurse flipped them all off and snuggled back into the Asgardian.


	7. Chapter 7

The only sound to be heard was the faint and persistent tapping of a keyboard in the night. The source was a girl frowning at a monitor, clearly absorbed in her work and failing to notice that it had grown dark as she paused to think about her phrasing. 

The window shattered, setting off alarms all around her, and brought the woman’s attention to the intruder. 

“Kaylee,” the lump on her floor groaned, a familiar red suit trying to dislodge himself as the Avengers ran into the girl’s room without warning. 

“It’s only Wade, deactivate FRIDAY,” Tony groaned, not even bothering to glare at the suited male who Kaylee was almost certain had a broad grin on underneath his mask. 

“She’s got deadlines, Wade,” Bruce was the elder sibling, lingering with a reminder to the invader that there was more than one side to him. 

“She’s had deadlines all week, she’s barely slept,” Wade took off the mask, revealing his trademark scarring while pouting. 

“When did the sun set?” the brunette female was staring at the skyline as Deadpool turned in triumph to her brother. 

“Bring her back before 9am, we’ve got a presentation,” Banner conceded, shaking his head as the woman was trying to work how long she’d been working. 

“Right, you’ve got no window and no privacy, so back to mine,” Wade didn’t even give Kaylee a chance to object, hoisting her onto his back after he had pulled his mask back on. They were galavanting through the city as only Wade would do, the smart alec retorts gaining him new enemies as they passed through conversations, and even ran into Parker who was swinging through parts of the city. 

The woman looked slightly unimpressed as Wade threw her onto the mattress and then immediately jumped on it next to her, grinning wildly. 

“Wade, it’s been three days, I think you could have waited another night,” Kaylee started to chastise until the mask was off, and his lips were sucking at her neck, parting to allow his tongue to trace over her skin as a moan escaped her throat. 

“Mm, but I couldn’t bear another night without hearing my little kitten gasping for me,” he murmured, biting at her lobe as he immediately set about freeing the female of her confining clothes. “You always look so angelic with that orgasmic glow, and I was feeling a little pent up,” he smirked before biting at her neck, making sure to leave some marks as her fingers deftly tugged at his suit, practically tearing the suit off his bruised body. “Especially knowing how wound up you’d be.”

He was never wrong, she would always get so focused on her work that everything else would get neglected, yet a forceful and energising visit from Wade would always clear her head. He was an expert at removing her clothing without her realising, and even made a challenge of it as his fingers teased her clothed pussy, smirking at the gasps and whines that escaped from her. 

“Wilson,” she growled, his suit ripping in her struggle as she began to fight back. Her tongue was forcing through his slightly parted lips, though greedily he grabbed at her and pinned her to the bed. 

“Daddy’s having a play,” he grinned wickedly, closing the handcuffs around her wrists and through the bedposts, laughing as Kaylee realised she was at his mercy, though that didn’t stop her from pouting in a manner that was utterly adorable. 

She wriggled as he slowly peeled off her panties, her excitement would have been palpable to a blind man as Wade slowly slid a finger just up and down her slit. Her whimpers were delightful as he gently curled a digit into her, she was so enticing as he had to taste her juices. Her hips bucked up to meet his face before he smacked her thigh with a mock glare. 

“Daddy is having fun unless kitten wants him to stop?” Wade wouldn’t dream of denying his lover anything, but to assert himself in the bedroom was what made her wetter than a rainforest in a downpour, she was already frantically shaking her head as Wilson resumed his slow torturous exploration of the woman. A sweet nectar that revived his soul as he lapped from the source, and lazily began to coax her to a climax. 

A light sheen was dusting her body as her chest rose and fell under the moonlight. Wade couldn’t hold himself back as he passionately kissed her, his fingers tangled in her hair before he couldn’t stop himself from entering her suddenly. The squeaks and moans from the woman beneath him only egged the mercenary on, feeling her hips bucking to try and stimulate him while the male lazily set the pace. There was no rush as they kept kissing each other, the movements getting sloppier while Wade was enthralled by her tight sheath around him. There would be no one else for him, as he bit her shoulder. Then a devilish plan came to his mind. 

Her legs were suddenly flat against him, her ankles near his ears as she stared at him wide-eyed, and then gasped loudly as he pushed against her. A knowing smirk on his face as he watched the woman he loved come wholly undone within a few thrusts, only stopped as her orgasm triggered his own. 

Her lips lazily kissed his as they lay together contently in the aftermath. “Wade,” she murmured, her fingers trailing over his ear. “I may have some big news-”

Wilson had not been expecting half of the Avengers to burst through his apartment, and catch them both scrambling to cover up under the duvet, though his girlfriend’s glare was the much more adorable part of the situation. 

“And when were you going to tell us?!” Bruce was mad, it was a miracle that her brother hadn’t hulked out apparently. 

“I haven’t even told Wade yet, I just got it confirmed this morning, that’s where I’ve been all these trips at the hospital,” Kaylee was snapping back, her own gaze was fierce as Wade realised that Bruce was holding a stick in his hand. “So maybe in a few days once we’d gotten over all the big news, but thanks for breaking it before I had the chance.”

“We’re having a baby?” Wade squeaked, staring at the object in Banner’s hand before finally looking at his terrified girlfriend. “We’re having a baby?”

Kaylee looked sheepish and nodded as Wilson couldn’t even hold back his excitement despite that he was naked and in the presence of the Hulk, and bundled up his lover into a massive hug, tears of joy threatening before realising what he had just done to get them there. 

“And that’s why I was waiting to tell him,” the woman sighed as the Avengers lingered. “Can you give us like five minutes, you’re all clothed and in a huge advantage to this situation.” 

“Kaylee, we’re having a baby!” Wade was so ecstatic that Kaylee thought she’d never get him to calm down. 

“Actually, we’re having two,” she smiled, finally getting him to stand still and putting a hand over her lower abdomen. “Our two little terrors are perfectly healthy in there,” she kissed his cheek as the news was drowning Wilson. “And a whole new world of terror and angst is going to start from now, and it won’t stop.” 

“I can’t wait,” Wade was gleeful and wrapped up Kaylee in a hug, tears falling in euphoria. “Our own little family.”


	8. Chapter 8

Peter sighed as he watched for the usual signs of Deadpool meeting him on top of a building. It was getting tougher to hide everything, and with college beginning to loom in the picture, then he was getting despondent. 

“Can’t be that bad Peetie,” Wade had brought chimichangas as always and happily plonked himself down to the teenager before digging into the meal. 

“If Tony Starks ever finds out, I am more than dead,” he groaned, head in his hands. 

“Ava is a beautiful and bright young lady, and has kept Daddy Stark off the trail for many months now,” Wilson chuckled as the aforementioned woman’s bag landed heavily against the roof. 

“Deadpool, Spidey,” Ava looked nothing like her father and namesake as she snuggled between the pair of them, and diving straight in for the fast food. “Brilliant, dad won’t buy this stuff, apparently it’s not real food,” she whined before unwrapping the chimichanga. 

“Your dad can bite me on the ass,” Wade’s response was typical of him as the female chuckled through her fast food. “C’mon Peetie or me and your sweetpea here are going to have to fight for yours.”

“Are you fretting about my dad again?” Ava was frowning, pausing in her snack and leaning forward to study Parker’s face. 

“Well, the age gap thing and you’re like his little princess!” Peter exclaimed, blushing darkly. 

“I’m two years older than you, not that big of a deal,” she cooly responded, looking vastly unimpressed. “And I’ve always been his little princess, you weren’t bothered by that when you were-”

“Not in front of Wade!” Peter was in danger of combustion from the colour flooding his face as the mercenary burst into laughter. 

“You took his cherry? Awww that’s adorable,” he managed to choke out between flying chunks of Mexican food. 

“Wade is our biggest shipper, he was bound to find out soon enough anyway,” Stark shrugged and demolished her chimichanga while waving the final one under her boyfriend’s nose. “C’mon, don’t make me,” she gave a sly smile before the brunette male couldn’t stop himself smiling in response and finally taking the food. Ava gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and a flash from a camera made all three of them freeze on the spot. 

“Oh, Stark Junior…” Redwing was bobbing up and down in front of them, Sam’s voice cackling from it, his glee overflowing. “This is priceless.”

“I am the little princess of the Tony Stark, I have access to anything you want in exchange for silence,” Ava immediately switched to the facade her father had taught her in an attempt to make her less of a target to the public. 

“I dunno, there’s everyone but daddy here,” Sam trailed off, leaving a cold shiver down Ava’s spine. “Nat’s on her way to pick you up. She recognised where you were the second Redwing found you.” 

“Great, send the big sister with a murderous tendency, thanks for that Wilson,” Stark groaned, resting her head in her hands as Deadpool and Spiderman took the chance to slip away, leaving the woman discussing the weather with a flying machine until a slightly irritated Black Widow appeared. 

Tony looked confused to see the two women walk back into the compound together, especially as his daughter had a guilty look about her, and Natasha had one of her murderous expressions about her. He shrugged and returned back into the lab where Bruce was in the middle of an experiment if there was anything major going on then he was confident that the rest of the ‘family’ would let him know. 

Steve was looking troubled as Natasha left the younger Stark with Falcon, Vision, Wanda, the Captain and Rhodes. She shrugged her shoulders and took the last seat remaining, her father’s confidence oozing out of her as she wouldn’t back away from staring at Wilson. 

“Seriously, name your price,” she calmly opened, making the room groan in unison. 

“I think you need to admit to your dad that you’ve got a boyfriend,” Steve broke the silence on the opposing end, his baby blue eyes full of concern.

“And tell him that I’m dating his protege? The one that he’s desperate not to screw up because he certainly feels like he did by not being around for me until a few years ago when I wanted to go to college,” Ava gave the blonde male a look which told him just how stupid she thought the whole thing was. “I’m also the one he keeps putting on a pedestal and making out how brilliant I’m going to be because of the grades I’m making in college. He then finds out that the protege he wants to send to the same college as me is dating me, and there goes Peter’s future!” 

Wanda looked a little uneasy and cleared her throat, attracting the attention in the room to the intruder. Ava felt all the colour drain from her face as Tony looked as though he’d been slapped in the face. The younger woman had to leave and ran straight in the opposite direction, not even pausing to get her purse. 

She was hammering on the door to Peter’s apartment, her clothes soaking wet as she’d managed to get across the city without any money on her. A woman answered the door and looked a little surprised, but soon gathered herself together when Peter made a strange noise across the apartment at seeing his girlfriend looking like a drowned sewer rat on his doorstep. 

“So you’re Ava,” May had lent her some clothes and kindly let her grab a warm shower in the small apartment, and now was sat with a hot tea and sharing some biscuits with the couple. 

“I’m sorry I had nowhere else to go, it’s awfully rude to be intruding at this time of night, I am really grateful you didn’t just kick me back out,” Ava gushed, trying to hide her blushing face behind the steamy mug. 

“Well, Peter won’t shut up about you,” May chuckled, taking a sip of her lemon tea. “I feel as though I already know you.” 

“That’s sweet,” Stark couldn’t stop her smile as she felt a gentle squeeze on her thigh from the male. 

“So you met through the Stark programme?” May wasn’t subtle, her eyes narrowed slightly at the other female. 

“I’m Tony Stark’s daughter. I am overseeing the selection process,” Peter dropped his mug at the directness used by his girlfriend. “I saw that Peter had potential, and then we were working on the same project. He kept things quiet because I didn’t want anything to interfere with my dad supporting his college career, and my dad hates the fact that I’m dating someone younger than me…” Ava shrugged and sipped at her tea. 

“He found out huh?” May leant back in her chair, as someone knocked on the door for the second time that night. 

“I’m not mad about the age gap,” Tony’s voice was muffled slightly by the door. “I’m mad you didn’t tell me, and I’ve just been told by Nat that it’s been going on for eight months now.” 

“You told me it was three!” May yelled at Peter and stormed over to let in the fuming father as Spiderman grabbed Stark Junior’s hand and dashed through his room, pausing only to grab the webbing before pinning her flush against him as they leapt out of the window. 

A suit was ‘glaring’ at them both and hot on pursuit as the couple could hear the swearing and shouting that was awaiting them both if they got caught. Ava was clinging to Peter’s back as the real Iron Man joined the suit. 

“If you have any tricks to lose him then now would be the time!” Ava whispered hurriedly into his ear. 

“I’m trying to not lose you right in front of the only man on this planet that would kill me without hesitation for doing so!” Peter was straining to keep his focus as the breathing down of Stark on the couple was starting to break him. 

Tony had a burst of speed and was holding the both of them. His anger evident in his silence as they were both carried back to May’s apartment. 

“Terribly sorry for the distress and disruption that my spawn has caused,” Tony was being incredibly formal, and Ava could visibly be seen gulping in response to his curt tone. “I return one wayward Peter, and I will be taking Ava with me.”

The Avengers were all suspiciously absent, while Ava’s mother was present. She looked bored, as though Tony had stopped her from going out that night rather than spend her time as a parent. 

“She’s been gallivanting off with boys forever, it’s not a surprise there’s a new one,” her mother sneered as Ava dropped herself onto the sofa between her parents, trying to prepare herself for the tirade. “What’s so special about this boy?”

“He’s one of my interns, and he’s not even out of high school!” Tony snapped. Ava’s mother was a blip on his radar during his college years, he’d paid more than enough child support to keep them both going until Ava had turned up on his doorstep at the age of fifteen looking incredibly awkward about her whole scenario. Turns out her mother had decided that Tony was going to be the parent instead of leaving her virtually all the time to fend for herself while her mother was spending all the ‘child support’ on her lavish lifestyle. He’d been furious to find out and had spent all of his time making sure that Ava wanted for nothing since then. Now she was in her third year of college and a few months off her twenty-first birthday, and apparently dating a freshly turned eighteen-year-old. 

“So you want her to be more picky about who she beds then?” Her mother’s sneer was devastating to the young woman, her head in her hands as she could feel the eyes of the Avengers looking in on the scene. “Ava, start bedding your father’s friends, they’ve got the money.”

“Like you haven’t already done that,” Tony scorned, fresh new hate for the woman surfacing. “You just got lucky it was my name on that DNA test,” he snapped back. “I thought you’d grow up as a mother, turns out you’ve just been stewing in yourself for years! Get out of my house.”

Ava’s mother sneered in response, and left without an answer, a little swagger of her hips reminding Tony of precisely what he’d seen in her and been attracted to her by as the rest of the room came back into view. Ava was crying under her hands, her shoulders shaking as a stifled sob slipped out. 

Natasha came running in from the security room and bundled the young woman into a tight hug, patting the back of her head as she murmured gently loving words in Russian into her ear. The rest of the Avengers soon followed, all eager to try and help Ava feel better. Once the tears finally ceased, Tony escorted his daughter to the kitchen to make some fruit tea. He forgot how much work her mother was in general. She had taken to blaming Ava for ‘making’ her drop out of college, and played the guilty card that she wasn’t making money like her ‘friends’ were without resorting to spreading their legs. The pair were silent as the student refused to look her father in the face.

“Eight months you kept me from finding out,” Tony was exasperated. 

“I kept you all from finding out for eight months. I’ve been behaving funny for that long, but no one could find an explanation. So, Sam, had me tailed tonight,” Ava murmured, her hands clasped around the mug. “Peter told May it had only been going on a few months when I dropped him off, and she caught us kissing goodbye.”

“He’s nearly three years younger than you, I’m really not getting the whole attraction?” the man was looking stressed as he sat opposite his daughter. 

She finally looked up. “He’s really sweet, and he wasn’t just after one thing like the boys at college, and spending all that time as Spiderman and doing all the things he wants to has really matured him. He was loitering around the college library trying to find something out and looked frustrated. Turns out he was trying to do some research on my expertise, so I helped him. And he was there most nights as I realised I actually started to look forward to spending time with him, and then we started meeting out of the library, and it became part of my time, and I don’t think he realises how much he does mean to me.”

“I am going to have to do the father-boyfriend talk you realise,” Stark replied after a short silence. 

“Oh, I’ve had him prepped on that from day one. I kept his facade up with May about the Stark internship too, so that’s how we met if you talk to her,” Ava sipped at the fruit tea. 

A few days of sulking and mass explosions from the lab led to Peter and May waiting in a restaurant that felt very out of their depths. The table was booked by Tony, and he was so far late by fifteen minutes until the whole place seemed to turn to look to the entrance as he made it all about him, while Ava quietly took the seat next to Peter and gave him a soft peck on the cheek for attention. May gave the college student a very empty glare, meaning to appear as business while a waiter was summoned over, and a card handed over to get privacy ensured as Tony finally approached the table, and screens suddenly erected around them. He rambled off a list of things and then waited until the waiter had left to say anything. 

“I owe you an apology first off May,” Ava opened the conversation, looking sheepish about everything. “You’ve been nothing but kind that night when I showed up, and then everything seems to have turned upside down in these few days.” 

“I’m grounded for the next decade for it all,” Peter nervously added, not sure where to look as his girlfriend’s fingers found his own, and linked through them, squeezing gently for reassurance. 

“It’s more that you two felt as though you had to hide this from us both,” Tony sighed. 

“I had heard you discussing with Pepper about funding Peter’s college, and I’ve seen what you’ve been like with my exes, and I didn’t want it to be jeopardised so I figured that keeping it quiet from you until there was confirmation of Peter going to where he wanted was the best course of action,” Ava managed to navigate her way through her twisted logic as Stark senior was forced to think back to her last boyfriend. 

“Your previous suitor was a waste of space who was after two things, he left you shortly after so that meeting was a success. You’ve told me yourself though, Peter isn’t anything like the others.”

“He never was and never will be,” the brunette girl smiled softly into her glass of water.

The rest of the dinner seemed to go reasonably smoothly, until May started to respond to Tony’s flirting jabs with her own, and left the young couple absolutely mortified as the waiters were suddenly summoned and the tab was paid. A hurried and hushed goodbye was granted for all of thirty seconds before Tony and Ava stepped away to be surrounded by the press, and all sorts of glamorous as Peter smiled without realising it. 

Ava was resorting to using oversized sunglasses as she attended Peter’s graduation ceremony and sat next to May. The two had tightly bonded in the gaping hole left by Ava’s mother and had taken to sharing many things, including clothes, jewellery and shoes. He could spot her bright smile from anywhere as he glanced from the stage to the open crowd to find them both. He was eager for the whole fuss to finish so he could just be near her. 

“Oh M G,” one of the queen bees was latched quickly onto the trio the second that Ava removed her glasses. “No way, you are Ava Stark!” She squealed with excitement and attracted the unwanted attention of the entire event, the brunette female looking fairly embarrassed. “You’re like an icon!” 

“Thank you, I was just hoping to spend some time on the quiet though,” Ava was gentle as ever, while Peter was struggling to fight his ugly jealousy at the looks quite a few of the boys in his class were looking her over with. 

“What would you be doing here with Parker?” Flash sneered, a particularly vile glimmer in his eyes.

Before any verbal response could be given by the angering male, Ava quickly linked their hands together and smiled brightly back. “Oh, he’s my boyfriend, my dad likes to have him around for the internship, and we met that way.” 

It was the slack jaws that were killing Peter on the inside, especially from the jealous looks after Ava gave him a quick kiss on the lips and suggested they leave before the press arrived. 

May was doubled over in Ava’s chauffeured drive, as the young couple were now frantically trying to find out from social media accounts how quickly the wildfire was going to be spreading.

“Daddy,” Ava stretched her word out, a pout in her voice as her father finally looked up at the call screen. 

“What damage limitation needs doing?” He sighed, looking haggard at the thought. 

“Well, more of a warning. Since apparently, teens are useless at keeping stuff off social media, it kind of came out that we’re dating, and I definitely got recognised, and I did not like the slimy looks from those boys,” she babbled as Tony was already getting hold of Pepper for PR. 

“I’ll sort it, princess,” Stark senior smiled and chuckled at the way she was twirling a lock of hair around her finger, and her beaming smile afterwards. “Stay safe, I’ll pay for the hotel for the weekend.” 

“That’s a well done from dad on not causing any incidents,” Ava was snuggling into Peter’s side, the pair sighing softly in contentment as the vehicle stopped outside of the apartment block. 

“I don’t need to give any of my speeches do I?” She humoured, looking directly at her nephew to make him go bright red before waving them off with a laugh. 

“I’m guessing part of you is really wishing that six months ago you could have announced it or been seen with me for high school cool points,” Ava teased as the car pulled off again, her boyfriend’s hand now resting comfortably over her shoulders. 

“I think that response today was about the best thing to have happened,” he shyly admitted, placing a kiss to her forehead. “I’m just curious as to how long until the articles start appearing.”

“You realise that everyone will claim to be your best friend in those magazines right?” She replied, cocking an eyebrow at him. 

“Or they’ll just tell them how much of a geek I am,” Peter’s mood suddenly tanked.

“Excuse me, you’re dating Miss Stark!” Ava tone was sharp. “The daughter of Tony Stark who is studying hard at college to complete her financing major while remaining entirely stylish. They’ll try to drag me through it more likely for dating someone two and a half years younger than me,” she groaned. 

They checked into the hotel without any fuss, as several large bags of clothing from one of Ava’s stores appeared in the room with outfits for them both. Peter was struggling not to let his jaw drop off when they looked around the penthouse suite. A jacuzzi on the balcony, and a view of New York that most would only ever see in photos as the night began to fall. 

Ava had fallen asleep in his arms, her brunette locks splayed out behind her as she slumbered peacefully. They had room service deliver a feast, though the alcohol was refused apparently on her father’s orders, and had spent the evening in the jacuzzi. She looked so peaceful as Parker realised he was fighting sleep. Home was never that far away, not with Ava around.


	9. Chapter 9

It was strange to pass the bridge and not see her as the blonde male frowned, before she came running past, looking a little flushed as she tried to carve her own path through the New York traffic. She never failed to glance up and smile at him, as the bright brown eyes locked with his own baby blue for a mere second before her normal life resumed. It was impossible to tell where she worked, not without half of the city finding out where he was as a silent shadow of a friend grew more curious.

Tony smirked as Sam brought the photos up captured by Redwing. Glorious chestnut curls, pale skin and dark chocolate eyes that shone when she smiled up at Captain America from the banks and his spot on the bridge. They began to track her down after noticing that Steve would leave at the same time every afternoon, it was starting to become akin to addiction that he had to see her when she skipped a couple of days and left the man in a foul mood for some unknown reason. Steve had denied all knowledge of anything when he had been questioned about his new routine. 

It was a pure chance they met. They’d never uttered a word to each other, only communicated in smiles, but she always brightened his day. He had been walking across the bridge to try and get some fresh air after the whole incident of breaking the Avengers out of prison, the world felt as though it was passing its judgement, and then she smiled at him after pausing in her steps to glance upwards. It turned his world upside down completely. 

“Laura Wilson,” Tony announced, bringing up an entire profile on the woman. A photo framed with her traditional bright red lipstick was the centre of the screen as Sam started to study the details. “Seattle born, British parent, has the accent. Strangely enough, she has no official job according to the legal manners, so I’ve been digging through SHIELD.”

“I’m guessing she officially doesn’t exist or something then?” Sam frowned, trying to find anything that located the female.

“She’s got a flat in Jackson Heights. Owned outright, there’s definitely paperwork on her somewhere,” Tony chuckled. “Just impossible to find out what she does that means she passes that way virtually every day.”

“Sounds like we need to do some old fashion trailing then,” Sam smirked.

She had the collar of her coat turned up in the wind and a frown on her face as she paused in her usual spot to look behind her. Steve was frowning as she didn’t glance upwards for some time, it was as though she was being followed before she continued on her way at a much quicker pace while crossing under the bridge. 

The Captain rushed to the other side, but she never emerged as he caught sight of Tony and Falcon in the throes of the crowd, confused as he was before the blonde threw himself over the bridge to land below smoothly. 

“What are you two doing?” Steve demanded to know, attracting the attention that they had all been trying to avoid. 

The woman came out of the shadows of the bridge, a curious look on her face as she was backed up by a couple of males who weren’t afraid to hide themselves. She offered Steve a gentle smile, warming her eyes as always before the cold facade returned, and Iron Man and Falcon found themselves surrounded by mercenaries. 

The public has scattered, and the sounds of sirens woke them all from the silent standoff, and they were all swooped into a bar that had its entrance hidden under the bridge. Laura took up her place behind the bar, while three of the Avengers were seated on stools. 

“I like to keep things low key, I was doing rather well managing this sister bar to St Margaret’s, and all of a sudden I’ve had Captain America in the same spot for weeks on end, and today I’ve been followed halfway across the city by Falcon and Iron Man. What can I do for you gentlemen?” Laura opened, her accent coarse as the rest of the bar resumed its usual activities.

“We were trailing you because he kept getting grumpy whenever he didn’t see you,” it took Sam no time at all to crack, the sweat dripping onto the floor, while the bar owner looked unimpressed. 

“Wade!” She yelled suddenly, slapping something against the bar for his attention. 

“These trips cost you, sis,” an oddly familiar voice to the Avengers appeared from behind. “These aren’t any normal people.”

“No shit, they’re Avengers. Turns out Captain America has a thing for me, and Stark and Falcon couldn’t keep their noses out. Make sure they get back home safe, or I’m telling mum and dad what you’re really doing instead of being in that grave,” Laura shook her head and went to start cleaning her glasses.

“Will you at least let me ask you on a date before you throw me out of the bar?” Steve exploded, taking them all by surprise until Laura handed him a card. 

“I can get Wade to cover for me on Mondays and Wednesday nights,” she shrugged after kissing the back of the card, leaving her trademark red lipstick across the back. 

Steve was leaning against his motorbike outside of the flats, trying to calm his nerves as Laura appeared, dressed in her own form-fitting leathers, and helmet in her hand. She challenged him to leave things to fate, they’d follow the road and find out where they ended up for something to eat and might even wander out of the state. She kissed his cheek in greeting and then stole the rider’s seat until the blonde male pointed out it’d be impossible for him to stay on by holding onto her. 

They found a little place on the seafront as the smell of the Atlantic flooded the place. It reminded Steve of the pre-war holidays when his mum could afford to sneak them away for a few days as Laura enjoyed the calming sensations of being away from the bar. There was little in the way of conversation, but nothing felt strained between them as the waitress decided to take to flirting with the Captain.

“You’re very calm about it,” Steve broke the mutual silence once the food had been placed in front of them, a small smirk on his face.

“I could easily break her nose in one punch, but that would get you all embarrassed I think. Plus you’ve just been ignoring it, so easy to brush it off,” Laura shrugged, gazing over the ocean. 

They discussed the bikes they both owned, as comparisons were quickly drawn up while diving into their family past, where the Captain learnt that her parents believed she was their only remaining offspring because her brother Wade was meant to have died in radical cancer treatment a few years before. He was overprotective of her, and she pointed out that he had followed them here and jerked her head to the far side where a man was ‘hiding’ in a booth. 

It was several months and a couple of missions later when Tony presented Laura with a copy of her own keys to the compound in a mini-ceremony in the middle of a shift at her bar. Steve was resting up after falling from the top of a high rise and landing face first in some rubble and had refused to let anyone tell Laura what state he was in, so Iron Man presented her with keys to come and find out for herself. 

“Landing face first into a pile of rubble? Not the smartest thing you’ve done blondie,” the bar owner chuckled from the chair next to his bed in his room when he stirred and groaned. “Tony told me that you were lying when you said you were busy, you just didn’t want me to see, but you’ve been moping about not seeing me.”

“I look awful,” Steve mumbled, trying to hide himself from the female.

“I run a bar that is haunted by mercenaries. I have given them the worst injuries,” she scorned and opened the curtains to get a better look. “You’ll want to keep your skin moisturised once the scars are closed. It’ll keep the marking of the skin to a minimum.”

“I wanted a few days to feel sorry for myself without them all teasing me,” he groaned, burying his head into the pillow, before feeling the bed sink down next to him.

“You don’t have to give me the tough guy act, you’ve known me long enough I hope to know that even Captain America needs to lean on someone to keep going,” her voice was gentle. She wasn’t passing judgment, she was worried as he slowly lifted his head from the pillow. “And you’re going to need new bedding judging from all that blood.”

“Another tip from the bar?” Steve was weakly trying to humour himself. 

“No, that comes from living with Wade. Guy loves to roll around in blood,” she shook her head before kissing the male on the forehead. “I have a bar to run anyway. I left it in Wade’s hands for long enough. Drop me a text when you’re done moping, and we’ll go hide in a dark place and throw food at each other if you like,” she grinned, bouncing off and waving at him. 

Wade was frowning as Steve was slightly nervous sat opposite him. It was harder to look intimidating with his hood up, but the Captain appeared to be doing most of the job for the mercenary as their drinks finally arrived.

“Look, I know you don’t really approve of the whole killing people thing, but this is certainly not the way to intimidate me,” Wade could take nothing seriously as Laura had warned Steve long ago. 

“No, it’s about Laura,” the blonde blurted out, a blush rising up over his cheeks. 

“What? She’s taken up murdering people?” Wade was acting scandalised, a high pitched gasp coming from the depths of his hood. 

“No! She’s just bashing their heads in still at the bar when they get too much,” Steve flustered, trying to figure out how to get Deadpool to stay on track. “I know you’re the only family member she holds in any esteemed regard, and I wouldn’t feel right without asking you first.”

“So if I told her I was scaring you and that she’s racing through traffic right now to come to this diner and will be here in a couple of minutes…” Wade trailed off.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay if I asked her to marry me!” Steve was aghast as his partner burst through the door and landed on top of her brother with her fists already out. 

“What?” Laura looked stunned as the snippet of conversation sunk in and stared in disbelief between the two men. “You said you were scaring him by telling him what happens on a good evening in my bar!”

“He was intimidating himself, I just helped him to blurt it out,” Deadpool scoffed, sulking in his hoody as Steve was looking between the siblings. “At least answer the poor bloke.”

“What?” Laura was stuck on repeat as her brother forcibly sat them all down in the booth. 

“He wants to marry you. I’m fine with it,” Wade grinned widely, knowing it was winding up his sister at the sudden casualness of the situation after all his misleading texts. 

“Well then you better get the ring sorted, coz I don’t think I’d rather annoy anyone else aside from Wade for the rest of my time,” Laura snorted, before vaulting over the table and landing in Steve’s lap as relief washed over the male in a tidal wave. They were tightly hugging and about to kiss when a wet napkin was thrown at Steve, and Wade made a rude gesture with his hand. “I will dismember you. You can still feel pain even if everything regrows,” Laura threatened, her arms still looped around the Captain’s neck.


	10. Chapter 10

Peter could only recall one occasion where he had been this nervous. The moment when Redwing had caught his girlfriend, Ava Stark, kissing him on the cheek on top of a building. He had graduated from college and was happy in his budding journalism career despite how much Tony had tried to bribe Peter into working for him for ‘peace of mind’, when he really meant so he could keep an eye on him, so his little princess didn’t end up elsewhere. Ava had moved Peter into her college flat once he started, though he was nearly caught off guard a few times escaping the apartment as Spiderman. Tony was throwing a party because he’d gone for ten days without one and apparently wanted some company to drink in as all the Avengers were gathered at the mansion to keep him from making too many stupid decisions. 

He knew that his optimal window of talking to Tony was between drinks three and five, and if he wasn’t too careful, the entire window would fly by in a moment. 

Sticking to the older Stark was the only way to keep track of his drinks, but his nerves were definitely getting the better of him as Peter started matching Tony on the pace of downing drinks. Ava was catching up with Wanda, getting the gossip from her relationship with Vision and utterly oblivious to what her boyfriend was doing, especially once Rhodey and Steve had caught on to what Peter was asking her dad. 

“You want to marry her?” Tony was slammed into sobriety after drink number five. 

“I wanted your permission-” Peter stammered, very regretful about opening his mouth and about taking that last shot. 

“You don’t need my permission, you need hers,” Iron Man snorted, and ordered a line of shots. 

“So you’re okay with it?” Spiderman was sounding a little too hopeful. 

“Hell no, she’s my little princess. She should still be living with me and playing with dolls, not getting married and gallivanting off with boys,” Tony groaned, gulping the shots down at the thought. “But you don’t need my permission, very old school way.” 

Pepper turned up as Iron Man finished the last shot, and was about to start scolding him when she noticed the ring box in front of Peter. “Let’s have a look then,” she beamed, not expecting what came up. A round diamond surrounded by eight spikes of sapphires, the white gold metal shining underneath the light. “Oh… OH!” Pepper was ordering more lines of shots for her and Tony as Peter flushed tomato red and hid the box again before Ava could figure out what was going on. “I am not old enough to deal with this,” she groaned after all of the shots were gone, and Tony was ordering them both more. 

It was many drinks later that Tony and Pepper were practically being carried upstairs, that Ava had finally peeled herself away from Natasha and Wanda and noticed that Peter was missing from the room. Thor gestured that he had been seen heading to the roof, and the woman was starting to assume the worst and that Tony was in no shape to protect Earth. 

She panted for breath as she hurried up the stairs, her mind frantic with worry. Only to find Peter stood alone and gazing up at the stars. He looked at peace, a microscopic part of the vast universe that seemingly never wanted to stop killing them all as she slid next to him on the sofa. 

“You had me worried then,” she gasped, still catching her breath as he kissed her forehead in apology and rested his head against hers. “Dad was drinking a lot tonight, I think something’s stressing him out.”

“Yeah, Pepper was joining in too, they might be regretting that in the morning,” Peter nervously chuckled. 

“And you’ve had more than a few,” Ava narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her boyfriend. “Why do I get the feeling it’s all interconnected?” 

“Because it is,” Peter stammered, before standing up from the sofa, wiping his sweaty palms on his jacket. “We need to talk, well, I need to talk, er, ask you this,” he rambled, his arms jerking unnaturally as the sweat started to bead on his forehead. Ava was tilting her head and starting to frown at the strange behaviour. Then gasped as he dropped to one knee, “AvaStarkWillyoumarryme?” He blurted out, struggling to get the ring box out of his trouser pocket, and sent it flying to her feet. 

She leant forward and slowly opened the velvet box, stunned into silence. Peter was beginning to sink into despair as she stared at the ring in silence. It was all a mistake.

Then he was pinned to the floor, and her cheeks were wet as she hugged him tightly. All forms of her usual etiquette vanished as she cried against him. “YES!” She managed to finally squeak out, unable to stop her hysterics of euphoria with the biggest smile that he’d ever seen from her. 

They fumbled about to find the ring box that had been thrown into the sofa in the madness of the moment, and Peter was shaking too much to put the ring on properly. Ava was laughing and got Spiderman to hold the ring still as she slid her finger into it, the couple not letting go of each other from their embraces. 

A shower of confetti came from behind once they had calmed down a little, and cheers of celebration as Steve presented them with a cake with a hastily scrawled ‘congratulations’ on top of it. They all crowded around, the lads slapping Peter on the back telling him about how Tony was only going to become the overbearing mother in law and take charge of the wedding, as the girls were admiring the ring. 

The media were all over the news once Tony and Pepper had been spotted coming in and out of wedding stores, away from planning meetings and venues in-depth discussion. Ava and Peter were keeping an exceptionally low profile, and using long sleeves to hide the ring in an attempt to keep them off the trail. 

“Are you sure your dad doesn’t mind paying for this all?” Peter asked one evening as Ava opened a bottle of wine in front of the fire, the wedding starting to loom in on the calendar. 

“He ordered me to tell you that he was, I think he has more money than he knows what to do with. I just work so I don’t get bored really, it’s of no necessity,” Ava shrugged, tasting the wine before pulling a face and pouring the bottle down the drain. 

“That’s the fourth bottle of wine you’ve done that with this week,” Peter frowned. “Something wrong with the grapes you think?” 

“Something wrong with our storage more like, all different countries and types of wine, they all taste horrible,” Ava replied, rubbing her forehead at the pounding headache going on. 

FRIDAY coughed politely, attracting the attention of the couple. “May I point something out, Miss Stark?”

“Go ahead,” the woman said, tilting her head to the side in confusion. 

“You were due on two weeks ago, and you haven’t started,” the system broke the news as gently as she could. 

“Pharmacy trip!” Ava yelled, her airs and graces disappearing in an instance as she grabbed her coat and purse before launching herself out of the apartment, somehow managing to avoid the camping paparazzi at the front of the building. 

“Er Peter?” Ava was sat on the floor, counting the time to pass next to the bathroom counter. Neither of them were able to stand the wait, and his partner was looking more than a little frazzled at the prospect. “What if-”

“Everything will be fine,” he sat next to her, taking her hand in his, and kissing the top of her head. “We’ll just be going ahead with some things sooner than we initially had planned that’s all.”

The last ninety seconds were an agony to them both before the results came up on the stick. 

It was finally here, Peter was stood in front of the altar, unable to stay on one foot. Aunt May was sat in the front row and already sobbing at the site of her nephew on his wedding day. Pepper had finally arrived and taken her seat on the opposite side, tears threatening from when she had finally seen Ava all dressed up and ready to walk down the aisle with Tony. The media had been desperate to find out the venue to the point that Stark had bought out several places with enough money to cover any potential losses if they hadn’t been able to get an actual wedding in. They got to this one too late to get any photos of the couple, Ava had arrived a while back to get her makeup and hair done in a converted office for the occasion. It had put many of them in a foul mood as they doggedly stuck their grounds to wait for the first glimpse of the married couple. 

The organ music interrupted everything that Peter knew. The sounds of everyone standing up only made his stomach knot even tighter before he could slowly turn round, and even then his movements were operated by Ned as best man. He couldn’t believe how beautiful and pristine she was. An ivory dress, the top layer of lace giving her floaty sleeves to the elbows, a deep v-neck before a high waisted belt of white satin and an A-line skirt gracefully giving way to a slight train. Tony had been crying, his eyes were all poofy as he handed over Ava’s hand to Peter. 

Iron Man was orchestrating the whole procession on leaving the church to give the couple privacy, once he had burst outside then the media lost their interest. It wasn’t Tony’s wedding, though a few smarter ones had caught on and were likely to be hiding in the bushes as the newlyweds stepped out onto the church steps under a mass rain of confetti. They stopped briefly for some photos, before being practically shoved into one of Tony’s heavily armoured and blacked out cars. 

“Ladies and gentleman, now for the groom’s speech,” FRIDAY announced with a crisp voice, followed by the usual polite smattering of applause. 

“I will keep this short and sweet from us all,” Peter opened, his hands shaking a little with nerves as he opened the paper he had his speech prepared on. “Thank you all for coming, and enjoy the open bar,” he smiled, holding his glass aloft to the room.

Ned was chuckling as he stood up to give his speech. “I remember when Peter first told me he was dating Ava. It was the best conspiracy theory going to try and catch him out to get him to admit that she was the imaginary girlfriend. Then she picked him up from outside school one day when she had some cancelled classes. The current theory started that she had lost a bet, or Peter had blackmailed this gorgeous woman into claiming to date him. It was only after high school graduation that I started to realise that they were in it for the long haul, and I’ve never known any couple to go through so many Tony Stark related problems,” he grinned. “From selecting a college, to where their first place would be, and then to the whole wedding. Tony Stark is the diva mother-in-law you never wanted,” he paused for the laughter, only for the married couple to be rolling around at the immaculate picture that was being painted of the bride’s father. “Please don’t hurt me, Tony,” he pleaded to the stony glare. “To Peter and Ava!” He cheered, raising his glass. “And I know it’s time for the last dance and for me to find a hiding place.”

Spiderman had been practising without Ava as they took to the floor, her train sweeping across the floor as the rehearsed moves came out. 

“Did you leave the card on your dad’s seat?” Peter whispered, pulling his wife in close against him, and then lifted his head at the wrong moment. “He’s opened it, and I am dead.” He groaned, preparing to spin Ava into the path of Stark from the dance. 

“How long were you both keeping this quiet?” Tony had the uncanny ability to draw all attention and the room to silence, and held up the first ultrasound photo. 

“About six weeks. I’m three months pregnant,” Ava smiled, wrapping her arms around Peter who looked like he was prepared to be anywhere but that exact moment in time. 

“I told you they were avoiding training for a reason!” Natasha’s voice rang out in victory, laughing menacingly as she made the grabbing motion for Steve’s wallet. 

“Babe,” Ava nudged Peter’s face with her nose, her smile contagious as he couldn’t resist giving her a kiss, while Tony was still staring in disbelief. “Dad, complete adults here, you’d be forcing alcohol down me tonight if we didn’t tell you. And you’d have been sobbing if we told you this morning, so we got you a photo,” she grinned, signalling behind her back for the music to resume, and the party to continue. 

Tony disappeared out to the courtyard with a couple of the Avengers, shock and disbelief all over his face while his daughter hogged the spotlight for the evening.


	11. Chapter 11

Olivia shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her head down and focused solely on the floor at her feet. Her pack had done an omega exchange after none of the alphas had claimed their free omegas, and there was a loose theory that the bond simply hadn’t been found. To be a beta was the norm, it was the vast majority of society that kept everything going. To be an alpha or omega was treated as something extraordinary. She had been anything but keen to leave her pack, the alphas had assured her that it was merely an experiment and they had no doubt that it wouldn’t be long until she was back home again. Her mind was wandering as her stop was announced, and she flew from her seat off the subway with her bags in tow. 

There were three alphas in her ‘temporary’ pack, with an additional alpha that would occasionally locate himself on the premises. Two of them had bonded with their omegas and had no interest, but the latest alpha was unbonded, and also suspected of being too dangerous without his omega. The owner of the mansion had tried to insist on picking her up at the airport, but Olivia wanted some time to think after being on the plane and had forcibly declined as the sounds of New York assaulted her ears. She was longing already for her pack, the only source of the slightest comfort was that the other omega would be going through the same thing. She was wringing her hands out of nervousness at meeting so many new people at once, especially once she got as far as had been planned, and the limo was waiting with a couple of the pack betas in front of it. 

Laura was gentle in her embrace of the smaller woman and introduced Bruce as the resident scientist of the pack. Olivia was grateful for the medication Bruce injected into her virtually straight away, which would calm her pheromones for a few days while she settled into the exchange before they got underway to complete her trip to the mansion. 

It was nothing like she had ever seen before, spanning beyond her eyesight and imagination as Laura described some of the amenities available, especially the ones based in the private quarters on the top two floors. The omega she had swapped with was a young woman called Jessica, though she hadn’t been able to eavesdrop on much more of the conversation without risking the pack’s dinner being burnt to a cinder. The pack hierarchy was globally understood, it just varied across the world according to the size of the packs. One of the largest packs had been recently ‘discovered’ in Wakanda and lead by Black Panther, but most of the European and North American packs ran between ten and twenty individuals, including two to three alphas and two to three omegas. It wasn’t uncommon for omega and alpha exchanges to occur, but despite all the alphas flitting through the pack, Olivia had yet to bond with her dedicated alpha. It was the first intercontinental experiment that anyone had considered, never mind implemented. Alphas were the leaders of their packs, they’d convene on occasions, though the unbonded ones were kept at a certain length if they attended, and discuss changes and world-affecting events. Then they would bring up long term unbonded omegas and alphas and arrange for swaps. The unbonded alphas were viewed as slightly unhinged, and definitely more predatorial than human. An unbonded omega was a much smaller problem, the omegas would be the caretaker of the pack. They would organise the meals, clean the homes and take care of any sickness, but if they came into heat around an unbonded alpha, then all hell would break loose. 

She was greeted by the bonded alpha and his omega, Steve and Peggy, who were both friendly, warm and welcoming. The other bonded alpha was Natasha, it was unusual for a woman to be an alpha but not unheard of. Laura disappeared in search of her partner, Clint, while Bruce took his stand next to Natasha. Tony was the lead beta, and would usually take on the alpha role in case of the absence of Natasha or Steve, though Thor was typically about in their absence. Olivia smiled nervously before Natasha took over, and delivered the exhausted female straight to her own quarters.

It was as lavishly done as the rest of the mansion. A queen size bed with private ensuite, and all the entertainment that could possibly be required as Bruce entered only to put her suitcases in. 

“We’ll let you get settled, there’s an in-house chat we’ve added you on, let us know when you’re ready for introductions. We won’t take offence if you get a shower and then get some sleep before leaving the introductions for tomorrow. Peggy has everything done to a fine art, she’ll bring you up some food if you want in a bit,” Natasha patiently explained. 

“Thank you, some sleep would probably cure most of the nerves,” Olivia quietly replied, inclining her head at the intimidating woman in front of her. 

Natasha chuckled and kissed the forehead of the British female in a show of affection. “Relax, your alphas are going to be on call tomorrow anyway, they have been messaging us relentlessly to know how you are. You have nothing to fear.” 

The surprising move brought a genuine smile to Olivia’s face. “And that’s the beauty they mentioned,” Bruce added, a warm expression on his face as his alpha nodded in agreement. “No one aside from Peggy, Steve and Natasha are allowed to even knock on your door without explicit permission, so you won’t be disturbed.”

“Thank you,” she sighed, grateful for the hospitality before being left alone with her own thoughts. 

Peggy had turned up with a bowl of chilli, only to find that Olivia was already fast asleep in the middle of the bed, curled up tightly around a teddy that had been gifted from her alphas to remind her of home. She smiled and made sure everything was switched off before returning downstairs and letting Steve and Natasha know that she was resting soundly at least. 

Olivia was finding it hard to take it all in the following morning. There were so many faces and names, as Laura waved at her from the sofa where she was snuggled up with Clint over morning coffee. She grabbed the bowl of porridge as offered by Peggy, realising how hungry she was and got nudged in surprise as the other omega whispered there was a second bowl for when she was done. 

Once they had all eaten, and Olivia had insisted on helping Peggy with clearing up. It was the start of learning the routine of the pack to at least know where things were kept in the kitchen. The only person who had been absent was Bucky, the newly returned and unbonded alpha, which had made it a little easier at least without fretting about suddenly plunging into an overwhelming heat in the presence of her potential alpha. The pack was assembled in the living area, and Steve went to fetch Bucky. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, and suddenly Olivia felt very much out of her depth while waiting for the appearance of Bucky. 

The pheromone clash as soon as they were in the same room was overwhelming. The medication had simply melted away, and the roaring heat in Olivia was making everything unbearable on her skin, while Bucky made a beeline for the omega. His kiss was dominating and overwhelming, but it made her world suddenly brighter. She squealed as she was picked up aggressively, and a low growl emitted in warning to the rest of the pack as Olivia had to cling onto the male to stop from falling in his mad dash to her quarters. 

They were working on instinct alone, no words were uttered, they were feverishly kissing as though their lives depended on it while tearing each other out of their clothes. Olivia slipped a squeak out as she was forcibly turned around and bent over the bed, gasping for breath in the intensity of the situation. Nothing could have her ever prepared for this moment, the alpha poised and waiting, but he needed her permission. 

“Alpha,” she squeaked out, pushing her hips back towards him as she was desperate for him deep in her. 

Everything was heaven and beyond. He filled her out impossibly, but she was greedily accepting every centimetre he gave. She was slick with a need for the mating ritual, and the way that Bucky was biting harshly at her nape and shoulders was only making her wetter for him. 

The climax was an explosion of euphoria, it was almost as though they could feel the other’s orgasm, and to be curled up in his arms afterwards was pure bliss to the omega. She couldn’t help but purr, nuzzling against him in content as his knot stayed firmly in place. It had been uncomfortable to move with it, but the cuddling position was more natural to enjoy afterwards. A ghost of a kiss brushed her forehead before they slipped into a comfortable slumber. 

Olivia was confused, a strange smell in the air and wrapped tightly in a warm embrace. Dawn had barely broken judging from the slither of light that broke through her curtains. She peeked over her shoulder, turning in the man’s arms as Bucky’s face rose the memories from her sleep filled mind, along with the blush on her cheeks. 

“Go back to sleep,” he murmured, pulling her flush against him again. “It’s too early for any activities,” Her pheromones were opened by a barrier, a dark flush across her face as Bucky groaned in response, and buried his head into the crook of her neck. She could feel his physical response to the invite. “Oh doll,” he moaned, his metal fingers sliding over her stomach to her molten core. “Is this all for me?” Bucky murmured, nipping at her earlobe. 

“Alpha,” she mewled, her hips eagerly meeting his touch. The cool metal was a stark contrast to her pooling heat, and his teasing touches were stoking her to a slow climax. “Need you,” were the only words she could utter as she was turned and pinned down against the bed. Bucky’s eyes had darkened with lust, then his kiss was full of love and passion, while his fingers locked with hers as he entered her smoothly. 

Olivia had never felt so satisfied as when she was basking in the afterglow while tied up in the Winter Soldier’s arms. A soft kiss to her temple brought her out of her thoughts, and attention back to the smirking alpha. “Looks like you were thinking of something intense,” he chuckled, stroking her arms that were locked in his embrace.

“Just admiring how it feels that we were made for each other,” she replied, stretching out a little in Bucky’s relentless cuddles. “And how the taught warnings about alphas getting very touchy afterwards the first time wasn’t really adequate,” she added on with a smile. 

“This room stinks of sex already,” Bucky grinned before slowly nuzzling the woman. “I don’t think you’ve even been in the country for two days, your pack will be going mad.” 

“I think they’ll be relieved that at least part of the exchange has worked,” she murmured, and then froze at the thought of not seeing her pack again. Traditionally, it was the alphas who would move, but with Bucky’s status in the Avengers, it would never be possible for him to be that far away all the time since bonded mates couldn’t be apart for long. 

The alpha immediately sensed the change and nuzzled against her cheek softly. “Calm little one, we will sort out the logistics in time, don’t think so hard,” he crooned, gently nipping at her skin in a possessive manner of marking Olivia as his. “Firstly, you need some more rest. I think our introduction didn’t go as had been planned and Bruce’s medicine was completely overruled by nature,” he chuckled, cuddling her as the drowsiness won its battle over her consciousness.

It was a few days before Bucky could bear the thought of anyone else being around Olivia aside from Peggy, who had been bringing food to the woman’s room to make sure they didn’t die from lack of energy. The alpha was feeling protective and possessive as the video call was made to England, and three very stressed looking alphas were overcome with relief as their omega waved back at them with a smile on the screen. 

Her home pack was run by three brothers, Ryan, Stuart and Lee. Ryan and Lee were happy with their omegas who had drifted in long after Olivia had been brought up in the pack as a child. She couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t all grown up together, their parents had all ran together in a pack, and it was natural that their child would stay together. It had all been hoped that Olivia was the omega to one of the brothers, but nothing had materialised after puberty had hit, though she was deeply loved by all three as a sister. Stuart was torn between attending to his omega and checking on the omega that had been sent across the Atlantic. 

“That trade-off worked well,” Steve chuckled as Stuart dashed off to the side of the video, while Bucky wrapped his arms in a mark of dominance around the omega on his lap. “We have two alphas who have apparently lost their minds and have reverted back to their primal manners,” he teased in good faith towards his best friend, who scowled in response. “We will need to work out these logistics though,” he sighed as Bucky pulled Olivia back into his torso, sweeping her legs to the side so he could cradle her to him, and hide her better from the screen in an attempt to make himself the dominant alpha. 

“Don’t suffocate our omega,” Ryan smiled as Olivia was pushing against his grasp for some air. 

Bucky grumbled as ‘his’ omega mock glared at the male before giving him a little kiss on the cheek in response once he loosened his arms enough around her torso to let her breathe easily. She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled back at the screen again, while Steve and Natasha both took a business stance in front of the screen. 

“So, logistics,” Natasha was straight to the point. “We can’t be without Jessica or Bucky. But we know it’s incredibly painful to the omegas to be moved from their packs anyway. Especially when they’ve grown up with the alphas in the case of you guys and Olivia. So the logical thinking is we move your pack here,” she calmly stated, her eyes staring down the brothers for their challenge. 

“We have entire lives here. We can’t move in an instant!” Lee exclaimed, frowning deeply as Ryan rubbed at his forehead. 

“I’m not saying tomorrow, I’m saying we foot the cost, and you all move here. We get you jobs and everything you need to set yourselves up,” Natasha counted, observing Ryan as the lead alpha was deep in thought. 

“We want our own grounds, no moving in directly with you and becoming your betas,” Ryan replied after a stifling silence. “If Stark is correct about the size of his compound, then I’d accept a temporary site on a floor of the compound, but we will have our own territory where I will not back down,” he sternly stated, staring at the two alphas in front of him. Olivia was surprised to see that Natasha and Steve had things on a fairly equal footing, whereas she had grown up with Ryan as the dominant alpha, and his brothers would only concede to him to keep the pack settled. Bucky was as distracted as Stuart and nearly succeeded in making her forget the conversation about her. “Olivia, for god’s sake, go and take care of your alpha, we will discuss everything later once the initial bond has worn off,” he scolded, telling her off as a parent would a child. 

The Winter Soldier grinned and swooped the girl up in his arms, mock bowing before marching off to his quarters.

“Might as well make both of them smell of us,” he smirked, before nipping at her neck, his teeth grazing the skin as a groan escaped from Olivia’s throat. “I can’t wait to learn all of your noises doll.”

Ryan was not impressed as the pack arrived at their new home. Bucky had purposely kept his omega away from her pack as she hadn’t been there to greet them at the airport as instructed and agreed with Steve and Natasha. The smells of home cooking that had been missing for six months was their greeting, Olivia was their chef of the omegas and their nurse. The other omegas were perfectly capable of cooking, but it was edible and tasty instead of outstanding and mouthwatering. The three alphas dropped everything and ran on instinct to the kitchen, and buried the young woman in a group hug, soaking up her laugh and affection as she returned the hugs from her ‘brothers’. 

“Omega,” a warning growl came from the side, a stench of sweat as heavy footsteps echoed against the tiled floor.

“Boots off, all of you!” Olivia admonished the four alphas. “Peggy spent forever scrubbing this for your arrival, don’t you dare undo her work!” She scolded, hands on hips as she frowned at Bucky who was threatening to turn primal apparently. “And I’ll not be feeding you if you don’t back off. They are the alphas from my pack, and I’ve been with them as long as I can remember. We’ve never spent an ounce of time apart, so family affection is expected.” Her arms were folded across her chest, and a slightly pronounced stomach insisted on sticking out. 

Bucky was protective of her and pulled her into his arms, needing to feel some affection from her in the face of new alphas. She muttered scoldings into his ear while happily nuzzling the sweaty male before packing him off to shower. Stuart and Jessica had left for introductions at the Avengers mansion, while Ryan and Lee were smirking now at the same behaviour that Olivia had baulked at them for showing with their omegas in the early days. 

“I’ve made your favourites so you can forgive me I think for not meeting you at the airport since I didn’t want to chance any of it burning with the way Bucky is around the oven,” she shrugged. 

“Pups already? Strange,” Lee acknowledged and chuckled as Olivia flushed bright red. “Please don’t ruin dinner, I wondered why Bucky was so possessive so much, now it makes sense,” he grinned, and ruffled her hair as Ryan shook his head in exasperation. 

“Are you trying to take me to an early grave?” He smiled, and gently placed his hand over her womb, admiring the life that was growing in his little ‘sister’. It had been only a couple of years since his omega, Lily, had given birth to their second child, and Lee was merely just broaching the subject with Louise after five years together. 

“Yeah, we weren’t trying, promise,” Olivia weakly grinned, her eyes already full of love for the unborn pup as a grumpy Bucky tried to break her apart from her family. “Hey, Ryan, Lee, you mind giving us a few and discovering the place? Loads of space to hide and that,” she grinned, tightly gripping the Winter Soldier’s hand and keeping him still as the other alphas took the hint and left them alone. “They are my family, you know exactly what I want to happen, I have run with them for nearly twenty years, and I have never been with anyone but you. What is it going to take to get that through your head that Ryan is going to be your new equal?” She stormed, fury on her face as she threw Bucky’s hand away from her. 

“Because it was never going to be him and anyone else, it was always just going to be him,” Steve had let himself in, apparently knowing what Bucky was like. “Sorry to intrude, but I had a feeling that you’d be digging yourself into this one Buck,” Barnes grumbled, taking a seat on one of the bar stools as Steve offered a sympathetic look to Olivia. “He thought he’d never find his omega, that he was always destined to be alone. Especially after galavanting across Eastern Europe, Russia and America and not finding you, so he doomed himself to loneliness.” 

“You’re an idiot,” the British woman scoffed at her partner. “You and Ryan will be friends the second you let it happen. You have exactly the same interests, and I’d be more than surprised if over the next few years our packs don’t join together, especially with you and Jessica both being Avengers.” 

“Yeah, I’m the idiot, when you’re the pregnant one who keeps overdoing it,” Bucky sharply snorted, glaring at his omega. 

“She does that, all the time,” Ryan interjected, offering a friendly wave to the other two alphas. “She’d hide how tired she was and how much of the work she was doing to keep busy because she thought there was something defective with her since she wasn’t any of our omegas. So she kept pushing herself to take over as much of the housework and caring as she could without Louise and Lily noticing. She’s clever enough that two other omegas didn’t notice that she was shouldering the duties of the omegas by herself.” 

“I’m still not convinced I’m not defective, I ended up with this idiot as my alpha,” Olivia grumbled, blushing red at Ryan’s interference as he ruffled her hair affectionately. 

“Yeah well, you’re both defective then,” Steve smiled. “And also apparently far too perceptive,” he shrugged at Ryan, who sighed and shrugged back. “We’re basically running as a pack anyway now, just two different sides of the compound. We’re all on the same basis, so it’s just territory to keep the alpha problem in check. Bucky, Ryan and Lee on this side, me, Natasha and Stuart on the other.”

“Smartarse,” Ryan grinned at his ‘sister’.


	12. Chapter 12

The Avengers were feeling broken. They arrived back at Clint’s farm despondent after Ultron had managed to best them. Steve was taking his anger out by chopping wood as Natasha immersed herself back into the household as the honorary aunt, while Bruce nervously stood to the side and tried to keep himself busy with research. Tony was working in the shed, and Clint was trying to keep the normality going. 

“Aunt Kristy!” little voices were heard thundering down the stairs as Cooper and Lily practically threw the door off its hinges, and a very sheepish young woman was stood with her backpack slung over her shoulder, and a suitcase next to her. 

Clint looked defeated as Laura ushered Kristy through to the kitchen, and began to make coffee while the kids were scrambling in competition for their aunt’s attention, disturbing the Avengers in the meantime. Natasha offered a familiar nod of the head and a smile as she stuck her head through to see what the commotion was about. The pair had met on a few occasions before, usually when Natasha needed a place to lie low after a mission. Steve, Tony and Banner were all on edge in the presence of the new female, arms crossed and frowns on their faces. 

“Formal introduction, Kristine Barton, also known as my baby sister,” Clint sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “And by the looks of things just back from Europe as well.”

“Yeah, my sponsor got enough information, so paid for my flight and told me I didn’t have a job anymore,” she chuckled, opening her phone up to see what emails she had. 

“It sounds no less shady when you’re blase about the whole thing,” Stark was staring her down hard as the young woman clearly couldn't care less. 

“Rich people pay me to go exploring for things, find out where they’ll get their valuable trophies if they go hunting, or establish contact for their precious children to go and claim they did something over the summer that no one else could possibly match. Means I’m off the grid for most of my existence,” Kristy shrugged. “Also guessing I’m camping in the barn again?” She grinned, finally looking up at Laura. 

“Yeah, Nat’s got your usual spot,” she weakly smiled in response. “Also, I hate to break up the introductions, but you stink. So go and use the shower in the family bathroom, I’ll get you some clean clothes, and you can get some sleep in your hammock that Clint’ll get set up in the barn.” It was her tone of voice that no one dared to challenge, both siblings taking it as their cue to leave the table and follow the precise instructions. 

Tony was finding it all frustrating as Kristy sleeping in the barn meant he couldn’t keep himself occupied. He loitered with Steve, though staring hard at the barn. 

“Don’t you find it a bit strange that she’s suddenly turned up? And she’s in the perfect position now to expose us!” He sniped, throwing his arms in the air dramatically. 

 

“She won’t do that,” Natasha replied, approaching them both with a tray of drinks. “Kristy does come and go a lot. She hates the modern world, or the brats of it to be more precise. She usually takes me turning up as a sign to leave though, but she has appeared in the middle of the night and been found on the sofa the following morning after getting in, so it’s really not suspicious of her behaviour in that respect.” 

“I find it hard to believe that it’s just coincidence that she turns up days after we’ve all been bested,” Tony was stiff as the kids were seen running out of the barn with the biggest smiles on their faces and followed by a slightly haggard looking aunt. “What if this is her job? To spy on us? Ultron has access to everything.” 

Steve shook his head and wandered off towards the brunette, his own introduction to be had now she was a little rested at least. 

When Fury turned up, it seemed like everything was falling into place. Then, to everyone’s surprise, he turned to Kristy as she came in from the barn. 

“Please tell me you have something more useful than ‘here’s a pretty plant’ this time?” He asked exasperatedly. 

“That plant was stunning, and it blooms once every twenty-five years. It was worth a Fury funded trip, you said you wanted to know the properties. I took a photo and then sent you all the analysis. Then you decided you wanted it! It’s a damned rare thing, I’ve collected the seeds this time. And the locals were after my head again,” Kristy immediately objected. “Also had news on the grapevine, Pym’s going to be getting someone in response to that bad piece of news that’s in charge of his company.”

“How in the hell did you get news from California from the rainforests of Burundi?” Fury snapped. 

“You paid for my flight home commercial. I got talking,” Kristy shrugged. “Some very loose-lipped people out there.” 

“Everyone out, and you’re going to California, need you to try some recruitment,” Fury replied, pointing his finger at Kristy. 

“Here’s a van I’ve got for you. Now I’m disappearing, please keep them all safe,” Kristy was used to doing shady things for her brother, but avoiding the radar of the government was a new low they’d established. “And Scott’s way more used to being on this side of the law then I am, so he’ll be of more use. Just make sure you fill up on coffee. Guy barely sleeps I’m sure of it.”

Clint gave his sister a kiss on the cheek. “Get going. Or you’ll get caught.”

She gave a confident grin before returning to the slightly battered Honda Civic in the shadows. Meeting under the highways in Nevada wasn’t Kristy’s idea of a good time, but strange times called for stranger action plans. All she could do now was try to evade any potential clapback. 

It was all over the news. Captain America had gone rogue, and Kristy was being cuffed by Ross’ squad of dogs. She hadn’t been careful enough to disguise herself on the cameras, and the only word she’d been able to distinguish was ‘raft’. 

Wanda was restrained in a manner that the Victorians would have been proud of. Her brother was a broken man, and it was all her fault that he and Scott were currently locked up, and Wanda. If she had done everything properly, then all four of them could still be out of the way and on the run. Rhodes had been paralysed in the fight, and Sam was carrying all the guilt for it. There was nothing to alleviate his baggage as Tony turned his attention onto the younger Barton. No words were needed. She was classed as a freelancer, and she’d gotten involved of her own free will. It was her private funds that had sourced the vehicles and acquired all the gadgets they’d needed to hide while getting to the airport. She’d also usually been the distraction in Sharon’s absence. He glared at her, and studied her thoroughly, before leaving abruptly, and left them all in the darkness.

“Kristy, stop beating yourself up. It wasn’t your fault,” Clint broke the heavy silence as his sister wouldn’t lift her head from in her arms and over her knees.

“If I’d done my job properly, Scott wouldn’t be here, he’d have a proper job and able to see Cassie, Wanda would be free in Europe, and you’d be where you’re needed, with Laura and Nathaniel. It’s completely my fault. I got cocky, and they got the trail they wanted and could figure it all out, there’s no one else to blame.”

“I’m beginning to think that I’m not built for a normal life, I just want to see her smile,” Scott muttered, his gaze distant and listless in the oppressive atmosphere. 

“Her smile could light up anything, she dotes on you and loves you,” Kristy finally lifted her head as the heavy footsteps encroached on the specialist cells. 

Steve was a man on a mission. And they were all free to go into hiding. 

“We need to keep running,” Kristy hissed as Scott paused to check another calendar, their story changed with every break they made, and Barton had chopped off her precious mousey locks in favour of a black bob and taken up vaping to keep things harder to distinguish. “We’re protecting Cassie by running right now,” she softened her tone, looking over her sunglasses as she placed her hand over his. It was hard to define their lines of affection, the charade was siblings, step-siblings, lovers, cousins, but they were just looking for the world as they turned into Washington. Everything pointed to them going to Canada. No one had caught onto their trail yet, but they were about to make a statement. 

The motel had advertised itself as having two beds to a room, but one had collapsed, and Kristy was too tired to contemplate anything as she stripped out of her current clothing. She’d got a wig that was a mimic of her old hairstyle, and the typical jeans and SHIELD baseball jacket that she was arrested in over the hood of Ross’ car. It was easy, just brush past a CCTV camera in the outfit of a service station near Canada, then swing back down to California. 

A cold sweat woke the woman up in the early hours of the morning. Her stomach was churning, it wasn’t going to work as she stumbled to the bathroom and emptied what was left of last night’s scraps for dinner out of her body. A sob escaped, and she broke down into tears. Sobbing over the broken seat, her body was shaking with the overflow of her emotions before a hand gently stroked her back.

“Hey, we won’t do that, okay? We’ll change the vehicle after heading south for a bit. Hank and Hope are waiting for us. We just need to keep running remember?” Scott pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’ve paid up, we’ll leave the keys and go when you want to.” 

“Just hold me a little,” it was a voice that Kristy hadn’t used in years. It had normally just been her and Clint, and then Laura came into the picture, but she had never been pushed out. She left to spread her wings and find her own calling. Which was usually neck deep in jungles and isolation on someone else’s payroll, and living her life without any expectations. Scott slid to the floor, his legs astride her hips before gently pulling the shaking female into him. They were done with social graces after a few nights, and the lack of clothing they had adorned for sleeping was the usual for them as skin to skin contact started to soothe the suffering emotional woman.

“Put your foot down!” Scott yelled as Kristy could barely keep the van on the road. They’d picked up the wrong vehicle. It was listed as stolen before they’d even gotten their hands on it, and now they’d attracted the attention of half of Oregon it felt like. A few more miles, and they’d be in California, and able to ditch the problem. Luckily, they were able just to keep ahead of the cars and sliding across the border, they leapt from the van with their backpacks and dashed into the overgrown fields of corn before the cops could even get a glimpse of who their newest criminals were. 

“God's sake, I thought Scott was useless on his own; apparently you add Barton into the mix, and you’re twice as bad,” Hank Pym scoffed as he met them at the farmhouse door. Hope was looking just as unimpressed, especially when they both collapsed onto the sofa. “Hey, no time for rest!”

“We haven’t showered since Washington, I think we can get half an hour,” Scott breathlessly argued before scaling the stairs. 

“Does save our noses,” Hope coldly replied as Kristy ventured up the stairs with a package that she had been thrown. 

Scott couldn’t keep his hands to himself, the hot water was pounding their skin as he surrounded the lithe woman. He had never felt so alive, and to feel a woman’s heartbeat underneath him sent him soaring into the sky. Especially when her legs were locked around his hips. 

“Harder,” Kristy gasped as Lang bit her neck. “That bullet just missed us,” she laughed, before a strangled cry escaped, the signal of her ascension to climax. 

“Just missed us both,” the man panted, thrusting himself harder into her slick core, barely able to believe what he was feeling. “It grazed your ear,” he groaned, his teeth pulling on her lobe as he couldn’t keep his orgasm at bay any longer. 

Scott was holding her against the tiles as they gasped for breath. Everything had been a sensory overload, and they had been fighting for their lives the entire time. Her head was resting against his shoulder before a groan came from her mouth, and Kristy started to disentangle herself from Lang. The shower was completed in comfortable silence, though both Hank and Hope had a knowing look on their faces about what had really been happening.


End file.
